Moving body manipulation system

ABSTRACT

A moving body manipulation system is provided. A master device that manipulates a slave device includes an upper body support portion mounted on a base and foot mounts. When a manipulator on a master device performs a walking operation, a control device controls an operation of the master device so that a lateral position of the foot mount on a free leg side follows a foot on a free leg side of the manipulator and an upper body support portion relatively moves with respect to the foot mount on a support leg side along with the base while suppressing a lateral position of the base from deviating from a reference position.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority of Japan patent application serialno. 2020-041314, filed on Mar. 10, 2020. The entirety of theabove-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by referenceherein and made a part of this specification.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The disclosure relates to a system device that manipulates a movingbody.

Description of Related Art

As a device that manipulates a moving body such as a robot, for example,one described in Patent Document 1 is known. This manipulation deviceincludes a saddle which is supported by an upper body support mechanismto be movable and a foot bottom support mechanism which is attached toleft and right feet of a manipulator sitting on the saddle. When themanipulator moves the foot bottom support mechanism to perform a walkingoperation, both legs of a robot which is a moving body are moved (as awalking motion) by bilateral control so that the robot moves.

Further, as the moving body manipulation device, a remote controller inwhich a manipulator performs a manipulation operation with his/her handis also generally known.

Patent Documents

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-217159

SUMMARY

A moving body manipulation system of the disclosure is a moving bodymanipulation system capable of manipulating a slave device which is amoving body to move, the moving body manipulation system including: amaster device which includes a base movable on a floor surface, a firstactuator capable of generating a driving force for moving the base onthe floor surface, an upper body support portion mounted on the base tobe movable together with the base and attachable to an upper body of amanipulator, two foot mounts mounted on the base to be movable in alateral direction with respect to the base and capable of grounding twofeet of the manipulators wearing the upper body support portion, and asecond actuator capable of generating a driving force for moving each ofthe two foot mounts with respect to the base in the lateral direction;and a control device which has a function of controlling operations ofthe slave device and the master device, wherein the control device isconfigured to have a function of executing an A process and a B process.The A process controls operations of the first actuator and the secondactuator so that when the manipulator wearing the upper body supportportion moves each foot to perform a walking operation of intermittentlygrounding each foot to a corresponding foot mount, a lateral position ofthe foot mount on a free leg side which is the foot mount correspondingto the foot on a free leg side of the manipulator follows a lateralposition of the foot on the free leg side of the manipulator and theupper body support portion relatively moves in the lateral directionwith respect to the foot mount on a support leg side together with thebase while suppressing a lateral position of the base or the upper bodysupport portion in a movement environment of the base from deviatingfrom a predetermined lateral reference position in accordance with themovement of the upper body of the manipulator in the lateral directionwith respect to the foot mount on the support leg side which is the footmount for grounding the foot on a support leg side of the manipulator.The B process controls an operation of the slave device so that theslave device moves in response to a movement of the upper body supportportion with respect to the foot mount on the support leg side.

Additionally, in the disclosure, the “lateral direction” means thehorizontal direction or the substantially horizontal direction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a slave device(moving body) of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration related to operationcontrol of the slave device of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a master deviceof the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the master device of the firstembodiment and a manipulator moving the master device.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration related to operationcontrol of the master device of the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration related to theoperation control of the master device of the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a process of a main manipulation controlunit shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a process of STEP 3 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a process of a slave movement control unitshown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a process of a master movement controlunit shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a process of STEP 25 of FIG. 10.

FIG. 12A is an explanatory diagram related to the operation control ofthe slave device and FIG. 12B is an explanatory diagram related to theoperation control of the master device.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a process of STEP 21 of FIG. 10.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing the process of STEP 21 of FIG. 10.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram related to the process of STEP 21 ofFIG. 10.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram related to the process of STEP 21 ofFIG. 10.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation example of themaster device.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation example of themaster device.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation example of themaster device.

FIG. 20 is a front view showing a configuration of a slave device(moving body) of a second embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing a configuration related to operationcontrol of the slave device of the second embodiment.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing a configuration related to operationcontrol of a master device of the second embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram showing a configuration related to theoperation control of the master device of the second embodiment.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing a process of a master control unit shownin FIGS. 22 and 23.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart showing a process of a slave control unit shownin FIG. 21.

FIG. 26 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation example of themaster device of the second embodiment.

FIG. 27 is a block diagram showing a configuration related to operationcontrol of a slave device of a third embodiment.

FIG. 28 is a block diagram showing a configuration related to operationcontrol of a master device of the third embodiment.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing a process of a master control unit shownin FIG. 28.

FIG. 30 is an explanatory diagram of a dynamics model used in STEP 48 aof FIG. 29.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

However, in the manipulation device disclosed in Patent Document 1,since the manipulator moves the foot bottom support mechanism whilesitting on the saddle and attaching the foot bottom support mechanism toeach foot, the moving method is likely to be different from the methodof moving both legs during the actual walking operation of themanipulator. Further, the moving velocity or moving direction of themoving body is likely to be different from the moving velocity or movingdirection assumed by the manipulator.

Further, since the manipulator needs to sufficiently recognize acorresponding relationship between the operation of the remotecontroller and the operation of the moving body when manipulating themoving body using the remote controller, a high degree of skill isrequired to perform a desired operation of the moving body. For thisreason, it is difficult to stably perform the desired operation of themoving body.

Here, the present inventor has developed a manipulation system in whicha manipulator can perform a walking operation (a walking operation ofintermittently grounding each foot of the manipulator to a floorsurface) as in a normal walking operation on a floor surface while anupper body support portion is attached to an upper body of themanipulator and moves a moving body in response to the movement of theupper body support portion due to the walking operation. In such amanipulation system, since the manipulator can comfortably and smoothlyperform a normal walking operation in order to manipulate the movementof the moving body, the moving body can be easily moved without skillfulmanipulation for the movement.

However, in such a manipulation system, the manipulator also needs tocontinuously move (walk) in a certain direction in order to continuouslymove the moving body in a certain direction. Then, when the movementenvironment of the manipulator is a relatively narrow environment suchas indoors, the movable range of the manipulator is limited to a narrowrange. Further, the moving body cannot be moved in a wide range.

The disclosure has been made in view of such a background and anobjective is to provide a manipulation system capable of smoothlyperforming a continuous walking operation by a manipulator to move amoving body in a wide range even when an environment of performing amanipulator's walking operation for moving the moving body is arelatively narrow environment.

First Embodiment

A first embodiment of the disclosure will be described below withreference to FIGS. 1 to 19. In this embodiment, as an example of thedisclosure, a manipulation system that manipulates the movement of amoving body 1 shown in FIG. 1 by a manipulation device 51 shown in FIGS.3 and 4 will be described. In the description below, the moving body 1of the manipulation object is referred to as a slave device 1 and themanipulation device 51 for manipulating the slave device 1 is referredto as a master device 51.

Further, in the following description (including other embodimentsdescribed below), one in which “actual” is added to the beginning of thename of the arbitrary state quantity (position, velocity, force, or thelike) or the subscript “_act” is added to the reference sign of thestate quantity means the actual value of the state quantity or theobserved value (detected value or estimated value) thereof. Further, onein which “target” is added to the beginning of the name of the arbitrarystate quantity or the subscript “_aim” is added to the state quantitymeans the target value of the state quantity.

Further, the “movement” of the arbitrary object means any one statequantity of the position, the velocity (translational velocity), theacceleration (translational acceleration), the posture angle, theangular velocity, and the angular acceleration of the object, a set oftwo or more state quantities, or a time series of these statequantities. The “position” of the object is the position of therepresentative point of the object arbitrarily set (defined) in theobject. Further, the “posture angle” of the object is an anglerepresenting the spatial posture of the object as seen in a certaincoordinate system. The “posture angle” is represented by, for example,Euler angles.

Regarding the “posture angle”, the posture angle in the direction(so-called yaw direction) around the axis in the up-down direction (thevertical direction or the substantially vertical direction) may bereferred to as the “direction” and the posture angle in the direction(for example, the roll direction or the pitch direction) around the axisin the lateral direction (the horizontal direction or the substantiallyhorizontal direction) may be referred to as the “tilt”, the “tiltposture”, or the “tilt angle”. Further, “the posture angle” may besimply referred to as the “posture”. Further, a set of the “position”and the “posture angle” of the object may be simply referred to as the“position posture”.

[Configuration of Slave Device]

Referring to FIG. 1, the slave device 1 includes a movement mechanism 2which is movable on a floor surface of the operation environment and amanipulator 10 which is mounted on the movement mechanism 2.Additionally, in the present specification, the “floor surface” is notlimited to the floor surface in the usual sense and may include theground, the road surface, and the like. Then, in the description below,the floor of the operation environment of the slave device 1 is referredto as a “slave floor”.

Further, in the description below, the “front-rear direction”, the“left-right direction”, and the “up-down direction” of the slave device1 are respectively an Xsb-axis direction, a Ysb-axis direction, and aZsb-axis direction of a three-axis Cartesian coordinate system Csb shownin FIG. 1. Further, the “roll direction”, the “pitch direction”, and the“yaw direction” of the slave device 1 respectively mean the directionaround the axis (around the Xsb axis) of the front-rear direction, thedirection around the axis (around the Ysb axis) of the left-rightdirection, and the direction around the axis (around the Zsb axis) ofthe up-down direction of the slave device 1. Additionally, thethree-axis Cartesian coordinate system Csb is a slave upper bodycoordinate system to be described later, but the detail will bedescribed later.

Further, in order to distinguish the left and right components of theslave device 1, “L” and “R” are respectively added to the reference signof the left component and the reference sign of the right component.However, when it is not necessary to distinguish the left and right, theaddition of “L” and “R” to the reference sign is omitted.

The movement mechanism 2 includes a base 3 and a plurality of movinggrounding portions 4 attached to the base 3 and the plurality of movinggrounding portions 4 are grounded to the slave floor surface with a gapbetween the base 3 and the slave floor. Additionally, the shape of thebase 3 is not limited to the shape of the example shown in the drawingand may be an arbitrary shape.

The movement mechanism 2 includes, for example, four moving groundingportions 4 (1), 4 (2), 4 (3), and 4 (4) as the plurality of movinggrounding portions 4. Then, two moving grounding portions 4 (1) and 4(4) are attached to both left and right sides of the front portion ofthe base 3 and two moving grounding portions 4 (2) and 4 (3) areattached to both left and right sides of the rear portion of the base 3.

Each moving grounding portion 4 is simply described in a wheel shape inFIG. 1, but specifically, the moving grounding portion is configured tobe movable forward on the slave floor surface while being grounded tothe slave floor surface. Specifically, each moving grounding portion 4has the same structure as the main wheel described in, for example,Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-237329 or U.S. Pat. No.9027693. For this reason, the detailed description of each movinggrounding portion 4 and the drive mechanism thereof in the presentspecification will be omitted.

Although not shown in detail, a movement drive mechanism 5 (shown inFIG. 2) including two electric motors 5 a and 5 b (shown in FIG. 2) asmoving power sources (actuators) are mounted for each moving groundingportion 4 on the movement mechanism 2 including such a moving groundingportion 4. Then, the movement drive mechanism 5 corresponding to eachmoving grounding portion 4 is configured to move the moving groundingportion 4 forward on the slave floor surface by transmitting power fromtwo electric motors 5 a and 5 b to the moving grounding portion 4 asdescribed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-237329 orU.S. Pat. No. 9027693.

In this case, each moving grounding portion 4 is driven so that thevelocity component in the front-rear direction (the Xsb-axis direction)of the slave device 1 in the moving velocity vector becomes a velocityproportional to the sum of the rotational velocity values of twoelectric motors 5 a and 5 b and the velocity component in the left-rightdirection (the Ysb-axis direction) becomes a velocity proportional to adifference between the rotational velocity values of two electric motors5 a and 5 b.

Additionally, each moving grounding portion 4 which is movable forwardis not limited to one described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-OpenNo. 2013-237329 or U.S. Pat. No. 9027693 and may have other structuressuch as an omni wheel (registered trademark). Further, the number of themoving grounding portions 4 provided in the movement mechanism 2 is notlimited to four and may be, for example, three or five or more. Further,the power source of each moving grounding portion 4 is not limited tothe electric motors 5 a and 5 b and can be, for example, a hydraulicactuator.

The manipulator 10 is attached to the base 3 via an elevating mechanism30. The elevating mechanism 30 includes a support column 31 which iserected upward at the center portion of the rear portion of the base 3(the center portion in the left-right direction) and a slide member 32which is assembled to be movable (elevatable) in the up-down directionwith respect to the support column 31.

In this case, the support column 31 is attached to the base 3 via aforce detector 33. The force detector 33 is for detecting an actualslave upper body reaction force which is an actual reaction force(excluding the floor reaction force applied from the floor surface viathe movement mechanism 2) applied from an external system to the upperbody portion (the portion supported on the base 3) of the slave device 1and is referred to as an upper body force detector 33 below. The upperbody force detector 33 is configured as, for example, a six-axis forcesensor and is able to detect the translational force and the moment ofthe force as three-dimensional vectors, respectively. Additionally, inthe description below, the “moment of the force” is simply referred toas the moment. Further, the upper body portion (the portion supported onthe base 3) of the slave device 1 may be referred to as the slave upperbody below.

As a guide mechanism that guides the movement of the slide member 32with respect to the support column 31, for example, a guide rail 31 awhich extends in the up-down direction is attached to a front surfaceportion of the support column 31. Then, the slide member 32 engages withthe guide rail 31 a so as to be elevatable along the guide rail 31 a.Additionally, the guide mechanism may be different from theabove-described one.

Further, although not shown in detail, the elevating mechanism 30includes a slide actuator 36 (shown in FIG. 2) which is an actuator forelevating the slide member 32 with respect to the support column 31. Theslide actuator 36 is configured as, for example, an electric motor.

The slide actuator 36 is attached to the support column 31 or the slidemember 32 to elevate the slide member 32 by applying a driving force forelevating the slide member 32 with respect to the support column 31 tothe slide member 32 via, for example, a rotation/linear motionconversion mechanism (not shown) such as a ball screw mechanism.Additionally, the slide actuator 36 is not limited to the electric motorand can be, for example, a hydraulic actuator. Further, the slideactuator 36 is not limited to the rotation type actuator and may be alinear actuator.

In this embodiment, the manipulator 10 is attached to the slide member32. This manipulator 10 includes a pair of left and right hands 21L and21R and these two hands 21L and 21R are connected to the slide member 32via a plurality of joints.

The manipulator 10 includes, for example, a first link 13 which extendsfrom the slide member 32 via a first joint mechanism 12, a pair of leftand right second links 15L and 15R which is attached to the front endportion of the first link 13 via a second joint mechanism 14, thirdlinks 17L and 17R which are respectively attached to the front endportions of the second links 15L and 15R via third joint mechanisms 16Land 16R, fourth links 19L and 19R which are respectively attached to thefront end portions of the third links 17L and 17R via fourth jointmechanisms 18L and 18R, and the hands 21L and 21R which are respectivelyattached to the front end portions of the fourth links 19L and 19R viafifth joint mechanisms 20L and 20R.

Each of the joint mechanisms 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20 is a joint mechanismhaving a known structure and is driven by an actuator (not shown) suchas an electric motor. Additionally, the manipulator 10 is not limited tothe one having the above-described structure and may be one having otherstructures (for example, a structure having a three-axis slide mechanismor the like). Further, the slave device 1 may be one without themanipulator 10 (for example, one having a structure that can carryarbitrary items or the like).

Further, the slave device 1 of this embodiment is equipped with a cover26 for preventing an external object from hitting the movement mechanism2. This cover 26 is formed below the manipulator 10 to cover the entirecircumference and the upper surface of the movement mechanism 2 asindicated by, for example, a two-dotted chain line in FIG. 1 and isfixed to the support column 31 via an appropriate mounting member (notshown).

For this reason, in the slave device 1 of this embodiment, it ispossible to prevent an object or the like existing in the externalsystem from directly hitting the movement mechanism 2 during themovement of the slave device 1. Then, when the cover 26 receives areaction force (an external force such as a contact reaction force) fromthe external system, the reaction force is transmitted from the cover 26to the upper body force detector 33 via the support column 31. Further,since the manipulator 10 is attached to the slide member 32, a reactionforce (an external force such as a contact reaction force) applied fromthe external system to the manipulator 10 is transmitted from themanipulator 10 to the upper body force detector 33 via the slide member32 and the support column 31. For this reason, the upper body forcedetector 33 is mounted on the slave device 1 to detect the actual slaveupper body reaction force applied from the external system to the slaveupper body by excluding the floor reaction force applied from the slavefloor surface to the slave upper body via the movement mechanism 2.

Referring to FIG. 2, the slave device 1 is further equipped with acommunication device 40 for wireless communication with the masterdevice 51 and a control device 41 having a function of controlling theoperation of the slave device 1. Further, the slave device 1 is providedwith a motor rotation detector 6 which is a detector for detecting anactual operation state of each moving grounding portion 4, a slidedisplacement detector 37 for detecting an actual slave slidedisplacement which is an actual displacement (up-down directionposition) of the slide member 32, and a floor shape detector 7 fordetecting an actual slave floor shape which is an actual floor shape ofthe slave floor where the slave device 1 is grounded via the movinggrounding portion 4 in addition to the upper body force detector 33.

The motor rotation detector 6 is a detector which is able to detect, forexample, an actual slave motor rotation angle which is a rotation angleof an output shaft (or a rotation member rotating in conjunction withthe output shaft) of each of the electric motors 5 a and 5 b of themovement drive mechanism 5 corresponding to each moving groundingportion 4 as a state quantity representing an actual operation state ofeach moving grounding portion 4. The motor rotation detector 6 can beconfigured as, for example, a rotary encoder, a resolver, apotentiometer, or the like.

The slide displacement detector 37 is configured as, for example, aknown contact or non-contact displacement sensor. Further, for example,when a power transmission mechanism from the slide actuator 36 to theslide member 32 is configured so that the displacement of the slidemember 32 changes in response to the rotation angle of the output shaftof the slide actuator 36, the detector capable of detecting a rotationangle of an output shaft (or a rotation member rotating in conjunctionwith the output shaft) of the slide actuator 36 can be used as the slidedisplacement detector 37. In this case, the same detector as the motorrotation detector 6 can be used as the slide displacement detector 37.

Additionally, the slave device 1 is provided with the movement drivemechanisms 5 and the motor rotation detectors 6, but only one of each isrepresentatively shown in FIG. 2.

In this embodiment, the floor shape detector 7 is a detector which isable to detect an actual slave floor tilt angle corresponding to anactual tilt angle of the slave floor below the slave device 1 (anaverage tilt angle with respect to a horizontal plane) as an actualslave floor shape. The floor shape detector 7 having the above-describedshape includes, for example, an inertia sensor (not shown) (anacceleration sensor and an angular velocity sensor) mounted on the base3 of the slave device 1. Then, the floor shape detector 7 is configuredto detect an actual tilt angle of the base 3 as the actual slave floortilt angle, for example, by an arithmetic process such as a strap-downmethod from the output of the inertia sensor.

Additionally, the floor shape detector 7 is not limited to the onehaving the above-described configuration. The floor shape detector 7 maybe configured to sequentially recognize the shape of the slave flooraround the slave device 1 by using, for example, a camera or a distancemeasurement sensor (a laser range finder or the like) and to estimatethe actual slave floor tilt angle related to the slave floor below theslave device 1 based on the recognized floor shape.

Further, for example, when the floor shape detector 7 can acquire theshape information of the slave floor from an external server or thelike, the floor shape detector 7 may be configured to estimate theactual slave floor tilt angle related to the slave floor below the slavedevice 1 from the own position information of the slave device 1 and theshape information of the slave floor.

The control device 41 is configured as, for example, one or moreelectronic circuit units including a microcomputer, a memory, aninterface circuit, and the like. Although it will be described below indetail, command data representing the operation target (the targetmotion) of the slave upper body is input from the master device 51 tothe control device 41 via the communication device 40 and detection dataof each of the detectors (the upper body force detector 33, each motorrotation detector 6, the slide displacement detector 37, and the floorshape detector 7) mounted on the slave device 1 is input thereto.

Then, the control device 41 has a function as a slave movement controlunit 42 that controls the movement of the upper body of the slave device1 via the slide actuator 36 and the electric motors 5 a and 5 b of eachmovement drive mechanism 5 as a function realized by both or one of theimplemented hardware configuration and program (software configuration).Further, the control device 41 can output (transmit) data representingthe operation state of the slave device 1 (hereinafter, referred to asthe slave state) or data representing the actual slave floor shape (theactual slave floor tilt angle) detected by the floor shape detector 7 tothe master device 51 via the communication device 40. Additionally, thecontrol device 41 can have a function of controlling the operation ofthe manipulator 10 in addition to the above-described function.

In the description below, “slave” may be added to the beginning of thename of the component of the slave device 1 as appropriate. For example,the base 3 of the slave device 1 may be described as the slave base 3.

[Configuration of Master Device]

Next, a configuration of the master device 51 will be described withreference to FIGS. 3 to 6. Additionally, in the description below, thefloor of the operation environment of the master device 51 is referredto as a “master floor”. Further, in the description below, the“front-rear direction”, the “left-right direction”, and the “up-downdirection” of the master device 51 are respectively an Xmb-axisdirection, a Ymb-axis direction, and a Zmb-axis direction of athree-axis Cartesian coordinate system Cmb shown in FIG. 3 or 4.

Further, the “roll direction”, the “pitch direction”, and the “yawdirection” of the master device 51 respectively mean the directionaround the axis (around the Xmb axis) of the front-rear direction, thedirection around the axis (around the Ymb axis) of the left-rightdirection, and the direction around the axis (around the Zmb axis) ofthe up-down direction of the master device 51. Additionally, thethree-axis Cartesian coordinate system Cmb is a master upper bodycoordinate system to be described later, but the detail will bedescribed later.

Further, similarly to the case of the slave device 1, in order todistinguish the left and right components of the master device 51, “L”and “R” are respectively added to the reference sign of the leftcomponent and the reference sign of the right component if necessary.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the master device 51 includes a movementmechanism 52 which is movable on the master floor surface, an upper bodysupport portion 65 which is attached to an upper body of a manipulator P(shown in FIG. 4), and foot mounts 70L and 70R which are portions forrespectively placing (grounding) the left and right feet of themanipulator P (hereinafter, referred to as the operator P).Additionally, the master device 51 can further include a device formanipulating the slave manipulator 10.

In this embodiment, the movement mechanism 52 includes a base 53 and aplurality of (for example, four) moving grounding portions 54 (54 (1),54 (2), 54 (3), and 54 (4) attached to the base 53 and the plurality ofmoving grounding portions 54 are grounded to the master floor surfacewith a gap between the base 53 and the master floor surface.Additionally, the shape of the base 53 is not limited to the shape shownin the drawing and may be an arbitrary shape.

Each moving grounding portion 54 has the same structure as that of theslave moving grounding portion 4. Then, four moving grounding portions54 (1), 54 (2), 54 (3), and 54 (4) are respectively disposed on bothleft and right sides of the front portion of the base 53 and both leftand right sides of the rear portion thereof.

Further, although not shown in detail, similarly to the slave movementmechanism 2, the movement mechanism 52 includes a movement drivemechanism 55 including electric motors 55 a and 55 b for each movinggrounding portion 54 as a mechanism for driving each moving groundingportion 54 as shown in FIG. 5. Additionally, only one movement drivemechanism 55 corresponding to one moving grounding portion 54 isrepresentatively shown in FIG. 5.

In the master device 51, each moving grounding portion 54 is attached tothe base 53 in order to change the inclination of the base 53 withrespect to the master floor surface. Specifically, referring to FIGS. 3and 4, a support shaft 57 a corresponding to each moving groundingportion 54 is assembled to both left and right side portions of the base53 so that the axis faces the left-right direction (the Ymb-axisdirection).

Then, each moving grounding portion 54 is axially supported to thesupport shaft 57 a via a link 57 b to be swingable around the axis ofthe support shaft 57 a corresponding thereto. Thus, each movinggrounding portion 54 is relatively movable up and down with respect tothe base 53 by swinging around the axis of the support shaft 57 acorresponding thereto.

Further, although not shown in detail, the master device 51 includes anactuator swinging each moving grounding portion 54 around the axis ofthe support shaft 57 a corresponding thereto for each moving groundingportion 54 as a base tilting actuator 58 (shown in FIG. 6) for changingthe inclination of the base 53 with respect to the master floor surface.Additionally, only one base tilting actuator 58 corresponding to onemoving grounding portion 54 is representatively described in FIG. 6.

Each base tilting actuator 58 is configured as, for example, an electricmotor and swings the moving grounding portion 54 by rotationally drivingthe link 57 b related to the corresponding moving grounding portion 54around the axis of the support shaft 57 a via a power transmissionmechanism (not shown). Additionally, the base tilting actuator 58 is notlimited to the electric motor and can be a hydraulic actuator. Further,the base tilting actuator 58 is not limited to the rotation typeactuator and may be a linear actuator.

Here, when the moving grounding portion 54 is swung around the axis ofthe support shaft 57 a by the base tilting actuator 58 corresponding toeach moving grounding portion 54 in a state in which each movinggrounding portion 54 is grounded to the master floor, the movinggrounding portion 54 relatively moves up and down with respect to thebase 53 so that the height of the arrangement portion of the supportshaft 57 a in the base 53 (the height from the master floor surface)changes. For this reason, it is possible to change the height for eacharrangement portion of each support shaft 57 a in the base 53.Accordingly, it is possible to change the inclination of the base 53with respect to the master floor surface.

Supplementally, the attachment structure of each moving groundingportion 54, changing the inclination of the base 53 with respect to themaster floor, to the base 53 is not limited to the above-describedstructure. For example, each moving grounding portion 54 may be attachedto the base 53 via a suspension mechanism (so-called active suspensionmechanism) including a damper capable of variably controlling a strokelength. Further, each moving grounding portion 54 may be attached to thebase 53 via an elevating mechanism including a guide rail, a ball screwmechanism, or the like.

Further, each moving grounding portion 54 of the master device 51 is notlimited to the one having the same structure as that of the slave device1 and may have other structures such as an omni wheel (registeredtrademark). Further, similarly to the case of the slave device 1, thenumber of the moving grounding portions 4 provided in the movementmechanism 52 is not limited to four and may be, for example, three orfive or more. Further, the power source of each moving grounding portion54 is not limited to the electric motors 55 a and 55 b and can be, forexample, a hydraulic actuator.

The foot mounts 70L and 70R are respectively mounted on the base 53 viathe mount drive mechanisms 71L and 71R at the left and right sides ofthe base 53 to be relatively movable with respect to the base 53. Eachof the mount drive mechanisms 71L and 71R is a mechanism having the samestructure. In this embodiment, each mount drive mechanism 71 includes amovement mechanism 72 which includes a translational portion 72 amovable in a translational manner, for example, in three axis directions(for example, the coordinate-axis directions of the coordinate systemCmb) and is attached to the base 53 and a rotation mechanism 73 whichincludes a rotatable portion 73 a rotatable in the directions aroundthree rotation axes (for example, the directions around the coordinateaxes of the coordinate system Cmb) and is attached to the translationalportion 72 a of the movement mechanism 72.

Then, the foot mount 70 which is on the same side (the left side or theright side) as the mount drive mechanism 71 is attached to the rotatableportion 73 a of the rotation mechanism 73 of each mount drive mechanism71. Accordingly, each foot mount 70 is mounted on the base 53 to performa translational motion with three degrees of freedom and a rotationalmotion with three degrees of freedom with respect to the base 53 (andthus have six degrees of freedom of motion).

In this case, the upper surface of each foot mount 70 (the surface forgrounding each foot of the operator P) is exposed upward so that eachfoot can be grounded from above. Further, each foot mount 70 is attachedto the rotatable portion 73 a via a force detector 74 for detecting anactual foot grounding reaction force which is an actual reaction force(a grounding reaction force) applied from the foot of the operator Pgrounded to the upper surface. The force detector 74 (hereinafter,referred to as the foot force detector 74) is configured as, forexample, a six-axis force sensor similarly to the slave upper body forcedetector 33.

Although not shown in detail, those having a known structure can be usedas the movement mechanism 72 and the rotation mechanism 73 of each mountdrive mechanism 71. For example, those having a structure described inPatent Document 1 can be used as the movement mechanism 72 and therotation mechanism 73. Then, each mount drive mechanism 71 includes aplurality of (six) actuators (the mount actuator 75 shown in FIG. 6) forperforming each of the translational motion of the translational portion72 a and the rotational motion of the rotatable portion 73 a. Each mountactuator 75 is configured as, for example, an electric motor.

Additionally, one mount drive mechanism 71 (71L or 71R) and one of theplurality of mount actuators 75 provided therein are representativelyshown in FIG. 6. Further, the mount actuator 75 is not limited to theelectric motor and can be, for example, a hydraulic actuator.

Supplementally, the movement mechanism 72 and the rotation mechanism 73of each mount drive mechanism 71 may have a structure different fromthat of Patent Document 1. Further, each mount drive mechanism 71 may bea mechanism having a structure in which a plurality of links areconnected via a plurality of joints, such as an arm mechanism of a jointrobot.

As described above, in the master device 51 including the foot mounts70L and 70R, the operator P can board the master device 51 to stand upon the foot mounts 70L and 70R by grounding the left and right feet ofthe operator P to the respective upper surfaces of the foot mounts 70Land 70R while the foot mounts 70L and 70R are stopped.

Further, the operator P can perform a walking operation on the masterdevice 51 by operating the mount drive mechanisms 71L and 71R so thatthe foot mount 70R (or 70L) on the free leg side is located directlybelow the foot on the free leg side while being moved relatively withrespect to the foot mount 70L (or 70R) on the support leg side when theoperator P on board the master device 51 moves the other foot (the footon the free leg side) to be lifted from the foot mount 70R (or 70L)while one of left and right feet (the foot on the support leg side) isgrounded to the foot mount 70L (or 70R).

That is, the operator P can perform a walking operation so that the footon the free leg side relatively moves with respect to the foot on thesupport leg side while repeatedly grounding the left and right feet tothe foot mounts 70L and 70R alternately and intermittently.

In this case, the foot mount 70 for grounding each foot of the operatorP functions as a pseudo floor in the walking operation of the operatorP. Hereinafter, the floor which is formed in a pseudo manner by the footmount 70 for grounding each foot of the operator P is referred to as avirtual floor. The virtual floor is a floor having an upper surface(grounding surface) of the foot mount 70 in which the foot on thesupport leg side is grounded for each step by the walking operation ofthe operator P as a local floor surface.

The upper body support portion 65 is attached to the base 53 via anelevating mechanism 60 to move up and down with respect to the base 53above the foot mounts 70L and 70R. The elevating mechanism 60 includes asupport column 61 which is erected upward at the center portion of therear portion of the base 53 (the center portion in the left-rightdirection) behind the mount drive mechanisms 71L and 71R and a slidemember 62 which is assembled to be movable (elevatable) in the up-downdirection with respect to the support column 61. The support column 61is fixed to the base 53.

As a guide mechanism that guides the movement of the slide member 62with respect to the support column 61, for example, a guide rail 61 aextending in the up-down direction is attached to the front surfaceportion of the support column 61. Then, the slide member 62 engages withthe guide rail 61 a to be elevatable along the guide rail 61 a.Additionally, the guide mechanism may be different from theabove-described one.

Further, although it is not shown in detail, the elevating mechanism 60includes a slide actuator 66 (shown in FIG. 5) which is an actuator forelevating the slide member 62 with respect to the support column 61. Theslide actuator 66 is configured as, for example, an electric motor.Then, the slide actuator 66 elevates the slide member 62, for example,via the same power transmission mechanism as the power transmissionmechanism from the slide actuator 36 to the slide member 32 of the slavedevice 1.

Additionally, the slide actuator 66 is not limited to the electric motorand can be, for example, a hydraulic actuator. Further, the slideactuator 66 is not limited to the rotation type actuator and may be alinear actuator.

In this embodiment, the upper body support portion 65 is formed tofollow an outer periphery of a predetermined portion of the upper bodyof the operator P, for example, a waist from a back surface side. Forexample, the upper body support portion 65 is configured as aplate-shaped member formed in a substantially semi-arc shape (orU-shape). Then, the upper body support portion 65 is attached to theslide member 62 via a support shaft 63 and a force detector 64.

More specifically, the support shaft 63 is attached to the slide member62 via the force detector 64 so that the axis faces the front-reardirection (the Xm-axis direction). The force detector 64 (hereinafter,referred to as the upper body force detector 64) is a detector fordetecting an actual upper body support portion reaction force which isan actual reaction force (contact reaction force) applied from the upperbody of the operator P to the upper body support portion 65 and isconfigured as, for example, a six-axis force sensor similarly to theslave upper body force detector 33.

Then, a center portion between both ends of the upper body supportportion 65 is attached to the support shaft 63. In this case, the upperbody support portion 65 is supported by the support shaft 63 to freelyrotatable around the axis of the support shaft 63 (in other words, theroll direction) with respect to the slide member 62 and the upper bodyforce detector 64.

Such an upper body support portion 65 is disposed to follow the outerperiphery of the waist of the upper body of the operator P from the backsurface side while the left and right feet of the operator P aregrounded to the foot mounts 70L and 70R as shown in FIG. 4 when theoperator P manipulates the slave device 1. Then, a flexible belt 65 x(indicated by a two-dotted chain line in FIGS. 3 and 4) disposed tofollow the outer periphery of the front surface side of the waist of theoperator P is connected to both end portions of the upper body supportportion 65.

Accordingly, the upper body support portion 65 is attached to the waistof the operator P via the belt 65 x to surround the periphery of thewaist of the upper body of the operator P by the upper body supportportion 65 and the belt 65 x. In this case, the upper body supportportion 65 is attached to the waist of the operator P not to cause arelative displacement. Further, the upper body support portion 65 canadjust the height of the upper body support portion 65 (the position ofthe up-down direction) by appropriately moving the slide member 62 upand down. Further, an elastic member such as a pad (not shown) isattached to the inner peripheral surface of the upper body supportportion 65 and the elastic member is in contact with the periphery ofthe waist of the operator P.

In this way, when the operator P performs a walking operation so thatthe foot mount 70 (70L or 70R) corresponding to each of the left andright feet is alternately grounded as described above in a state inwhich the upper body support portion 65 is attached to the waist of theoperator P, the upper body support portion 65 can move relatively withrespect to the foot mount 70 for grounding the foot of the operator Ptogether with the upper body of the operator P (the waist). In thiscase, the actual upper body support portion reaction force which isapplied from the waist of the operator P to the upper body supportportion 65 is detected by the upper body force detector 64. Further, thefoot force detector 74 detects the actual foot grounding reaction forceapplied from the foot of the operator grounded to each foot mount 70.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, the master device 51 is further equippedwith a communication device 90 for wireless communication with the slavedevice 1 and a control device 91 having a function of controlling theoperation of the master device 51. Further, the master device 51 isequipped with a motor rotation detector 56 which is a detector fordetecting an actual operation state of each moving grounding portion 54by each movement drive mechanism 55, a slide displacement detector 67which is for detecting an actual master slide displacement correspondingto an actual displacement (up-down direction position) of the slidemember 62, a mount displacement detector 76 which is for detecting anactual mount displacement corresponding to an actual displacement(translational displacement and rotation angle) of each foot mount 70 byeach mount drive mechanism 71, an operator foot position posturedetector 77 which is for detecting an actual operator foot positionposture corresponding to an actual position posture (position andposture angle) of each foot of the operator P, and a base tiltingdetector 59 which is for detecting an actual master base tilted statecorresponding to an actual tilted state of the base 53 in addition tothe upper body force detector 64 and the foot force detector 74.

In this case, the motor rotation detector 56 is a detector which is ableto detect an actual master motor rotation angle corresponding to arotation angle of each rotation shaft (or a rotation member rotating inconjunction with the rotation shaft) of the electric motors 55 a and 55b for each movement drive mechanism 55 as a state quantity representingan actual operation state of each moving grounding portion 54. The motorrotation detector 56 can have the same configuration as that of theslave motor rotation detector 6. Further, the slide displacementdetector 67 can also have the same configuration as that of the slaveslide displacement detector 37.

Further, the mount displacement detector 76 is a detector which is ableto detect, for example, an actual mount actuator displacementcorresponding to an actual displacement (rotation angle or translationaldisplacement) of an output unit (or a member moving in a rotational ortranslational manner in conjunction with the output unit) of each mountactuator 75 of each mount drive mechanism 71 as a state quantityrepresenting an actual mount displacement of the foot mount 70corresponding to the mount drive mechanism 71. Further, the base tiltingdetector 59 is a detector which is able to detect, for example, anactual base tilting actuator displacement corresponding to an actualdisplacement (rotation angle or translational displacement) of an outputunit of each base tilting actuator 58 (or a member moving in arotational or translational manner together with the output unit) as astate quantity representing an actual master base tilted state. Themount displacement detector 76 and the base tilting displacementdetector 59 can be configured as, for example, a rotary encoder, aresolver, a potentiometer, or the like.

Additionally, the detector capable of detecting the actual mountdisplacement of each foot mount 70 may be configured to detect, forexample, a rotation angle around each axis for the rotational motion ofeach foot mount 70 and a translational displacement in each axisdirection for the translational motion of each foot mount 70 by anappropriate contact or non-contact displacement sensor.

The operator foot position posture detector 77 includes one or morecameras (not shown) mounted on the master device 51 in order to capture,for example, each of the left and right feet of the operator P on boardthe master device 51 and is configured to detect (estimate) an actualoperator foot position posture for each foot by a known motion capturemethod from a video captured by the camera.

Supplementally, the operator foot position posture detector 77 may beconfigured to estimate the actual operator foot position posture by amethod other than the motion capture method. For example, an inertiasensor including an acceleration sensor and an angular velocity sensoris attached to each foot of the operator P and the position posture ofthe actual operator foot can be estimated by a known method such as astrap-down method from the acceleration and the angular velocitydetected by the inertia sensor. In addition, various known methodscapable of estimating the own position and posture of the object can beused as a method of estimating the actual operator foot positionposture.

Further, for example, a joint displacement detector capable of detectingeach displacement of each joint (a hip joint, a knee joint, and an anklejoint) of each leg of the operator P is attached to each leg and anactual relative position posture of each foot with respect to the upperbody of the operator P can be estimated by using a rigid link model ofeach leg from the displacement detected value of the joint of each leg.

Additionally, the master device 51 is provided with the motor rotationdetectors 56, the foot force detectors 74, the base tilting displacementdetectors 59, and the mount displacement detectors 76, but only one ofeach is representatively described FIGS. 5 and 6.

The control device 91 is configured as, for example, one or moreelectronic circuit units including a microcomputer, a memory, aninterface circuit, and the like. Although it will be described below indetail, data representing the actual slave state is input from the slavedevice 1 to the control device 91 via the communication device 90 anddetection data of each of the detectors (the upper body force detector64, each motor rotation detector 56, each foot force detector 74, eachbase tilting detector 59, each mount displacement detector 76, and theoperator foot position posture detector 77) mounted on the master device51 is input thereto.

Then, the control device 91 has a function as a main manipulationcontrol unit 94 generating an overall operation target (target motion)of the slave device 1 and the master device 51 and a function as amaster movement control unit 92 controlling the motion of the base 3,the upper body support portion 65, and each foot mount 70 via theelectric motors 55 a and 55 b of each movement drive mechanism 55, theslide actuator 66, the mount actuator 75, and the base tilting actuator58 as a function realized by both or one of the implemented hardwareconfiguration and program (software configuration). Further, the controldevice 91 is able to output (transmit) command data representing theoperation target (the target motion) of the slave device 1 to the slavedevice 1 via the communication device 90.

In the description below, “master” may be added to the beginning of thename of the component of the master device 51 as appropriate. Forexample, the base 53 of the master device 51 may be described as themaster base 53.

Supplementally, in this embodiment, all the electric motors 55 a and 55b of the master device 51 correspond to the first actuator of thedisclosure, the entire mount actuator 75 corresponds to the secondactuator of the disclosure, the entire base tilting actuator 58corresponds to the third actuator of the disclosure, the slide actuator66 corresponds to the fourth actuator of the disclosure. Further, boththe slave control device 41 and the master control device 91 correspondto the control device of the disclosure.

[Control Process and Operation]

Next, the detail of the control process of the control devices 41 and 91and the operation of the slave device 1 and the master device 51 will bedescribed. Here, in the following description, one in which “virtual” isadded to the beginning of the name of the state quantity for the motionof an arbitrary object or the subscript “_vir” is added to the referencesign of the state quantity means the observed value of the statequantity for the motion of the object with respect to the virtual floor.Further, the reference sign with “↑” at the beginning is a referencesign representing a vector (vertical vector).

Further, a global coordinate system (a three-axis Cartesian coordinatesystem fixed to the slave floor) arbitrarily designed and set in theoperation environment (the movement environment) of the slave device 1is referred to as a slave side global coordinate system Cs and threecoordinate axes of the slave side global coordinate system Cs arereferred to as an Xs axis, a Ys axis, and a Zs axis. In this case, theZs axis is the coordinate axis of the up-down direction (the verticaldirection or the substantially vertical direction) and the Xs axis andthe Ys axis are the coordinate axes of the lateral direction (thehorizontal direction or the substantially horizontal direction).

Similarly, a global coordinate system (a three-axis Cartesian coordinatesystem fixed to the master floor) arbitrarily designed and set in theoperation environment (the movement environment) of the master device 51is referred to as a master side global coordinate system Cm and threecoordinate axes of the master side global coordinate system Cm arereferred to as a Xm axis, a Ym axis, and a Zm axis. In this case, the Zmaxis is the coordinate axis of the up-down direction (the verticaldirection or the substantially vertical direction) and the Xm axis andthe Ym axis are the coordinate axes of the lateral direction (thehorizontal direction or the substantially horizontal direction).

Further, in order to express the motion of the object with respect tothe virtual floor, the three-axis Cartesian coordinate system fixed tothe virtual floor is referred to as a virtual floor coordinate systemCvir and three coordinate axes of the virtual floor coordinate systemCvir are referred to as an Xvir axis, a Yvir axis, and a Zvir axis. Inthis case, the Zvir axis is the coordinate axis of the up-down direction(the vertical direction or the substantially vertical direction) and theXvir axis and the Yvir axis are the coordinate axes of the lateraldirection (the horizontal direction or the substantially horizontaldirection).

[Control Process of Main Manipulation Control Unit]

First, the control process of the main manipulation control unit 94 ofthe master control device 91 will be described. The main manipulationcontrol unit 94 sequentially executes a process shown in the flowchartof FIG. 7 in a predetermined control process cycle. In STEP 1, the mainmanipulation control unit 94 acquires (receives) data representing theslave state as the operation state of the slave device 1 from the slavecontrol device 41 via the communication devices 40 and 90.

The slave state includes, as shown in FIG. 5, an actual slave upper bodyreaction force which is a reaction force (excluding a floor reactionforce) actually applied from the external system to the slave upper bodyand an actual slave upper body motion which is an actual motion of theslave upper body.

The actual slave upper body reaction force is, more specifically, theresultant force of the actual reaction force applied from the externalsystem to the slave upper body via the support column 31, the cover 26,or the manipulator 10. Further, the actual slave upper body reactionforce includes a pair of a translational force and a moment. Then, eachof the translational force and the moment of the actual slave upper bodyreaction force acquired by the main manipulation control unit 94 in STEP1 is represented as a three-dimensional vector viewed in the slave sideglobal coordinate system Cs.

In this case, the moment of the actual slave upper body reaction forceis, more specifically, the moment around a predetermined reference point(hereinafter, referred to as a slave reference point Qs) set for theslave device 1. The slave reference point Qs can be appropriately set indesign in consideration of the structure or the like of the slave device1.

In this embodiment, since the master movement mechanism 52 and the slavemovement mechanism 2 have a similar configuration, the slave referencepoint Qs can be set, for example, so that the positional relationshipbetween the slave reference point Qs and the slave movement mechanism 2and the positional relationship between the reference point Qm to bedescribed later in the master device 51 and the master movementmechanism 52 are almost the same as or similar to each other. The slavereference point Qs shown in FIG. 12A shows a reference point set fromsuch a view point. Additionally, the manipulator 10 is not shown in FIG.12A. In the description below, ↑F_sb_act and ↑M_sb_act are respectivelyused as the reference signs respectively indicating the translationalforce and the moment of the actual slave upper body reaction force.

Further, the actual slave upper body motion includes the position↑P_sb_act, the translational velocity ↑V_sb_act, the posture angle↑θ_sb_act, and the angular velocity ↑ω_sb_act of the slave upper bodyviewed in the slave side global coordinate system Cs. Additionally, theposition ↑P_sb_act of the slave upper body is the position of therepresentative point set (defined) in advance for the slave upper body,for example, the position of the slave reference point Qs. Further, inthis embodiment, the yaw direction component of the posture angle↑θ_sb_act of the slave upper body is considered to match the yawdirection component of the posture angle of the slave base 3.

Supplementally, a part or all of the slave state output from the slavecontrol device 41 to the main manipulation control unit 94 may be astate quantity viewed in a local coordinate system (for example, a slaveupper body coordinate system Csb to be described later) set for theslave device 1. In this case, in STEP 1, the main manipulation controlunit 94 converts the slave state (the actual slave state viewed in thelocal coordinate system) given from the slave control device 41 into theactual slave state viewed in the slave side global coordinate system Csand acquires the converted state.

Further, in this embodiment, the posture angle and the angular velocityaround the axis of the lateral direction in the motion of the slaveupper body are not controlled. For this reason, in STEP 1, the mainmanipulation control unit 94 can omit a process of acquiring the postureangle and the angular velocity around the axis of the lateral directionin the posture angle ↑θ_sb_act and the angular velocity ↑ω_sb_act of theactual slave upper body motion and a process of acquiring the momentaround the axis of the lateral direction in the moment ↑M_sb_act of theactual slave upper body reaction force. In other words, the postureangle and the angular velocity of the actual slave upper body motionacquired by the main manipulation control unit 94 may be only thecomponent in the yaw direction (the direction around the Zs axis).

Next, in STEP 2, the main manipulation control unit 94 acquires datarepresenting the master state as the operation state of the masterdevice 51 from the master movement control unit 92. This master stateincludes, as shown in FIG. 5, an actual upper body support portionreaction force which is an actual reaction force applied from theoperator P to the upper body support portion 65 and a virtual upper bodysupport portion motion which is a motion of the upper body supportportion 65 with respect to the virtual floor.

The actual upper body support portion reaction force includes a pair ofa translational force and a moment. Then, each of the translationalforce and the moment is represented as a three-dimensional vector viewedin the virtual floor coordinate system Cvir. In the virtual floorcoordinate system Cvir, the position of the origin of the virtual floorcoordinate system Cvir with respect to the master side global coordinatesystem Cm and the direction of each of the coordinate axes (the Xviraxis, the Yvir axis, and the Zvir axis) are arbitrarily and initiallyset before the start or the like of the walking operation of theoperator P on the master device 51. In this case, the direction of theZvir axis of the virtual floor coordinate system Cvir is the same as thedirection of the Zm axis of the master side global coordinate system Cm(the up-down direction). However, in this embodiment, the virtual floorand the virtual floor coordinate system Cvir are set to move withrespect to the master side global coordinate system Cm after the walkingoperation of the operator P starts.

Further, the moment of the actual upper body support portion reactionforce is, more specifically, the moment, for example, around apredetermined reference point (hereinafter, a master reference point Qm)set for the master device 51. For example, as shown in FIG. 12B, themaster reference point Qm can be set to a middle point between both leftand right side portions of the upper body support portion 65 on the axisof the support shaft 63 (a point in the vicinity of the center of thewaist of the operator P who wears the upper body support portion 65).Hereinafter, ↑F_mb_act and ↑M_mb_act are respectively used as thereference signs respectively indicating the translational force and themoment of the actual upper body support portion reaction force.

Further, the virtual upper body support portion motion includes theposition ↑P_mb_vir, the translational velocity ↑V_mb_vir, the postureangle ↑θ_mb_vir, and the angular velocity ↑ω_mb_vir of the upper bodysupport portion 65 viewed in the virtual floor coordinate system Cvir.The virtual upper body support portion motion means an estimated valueof the motion of the upper body support portion 65 which can be realizedon the assumption that the motion of the upper body support portion 65with respect to the virtual floor is performed according to the targetupper body support portion motion to be described later.

Here, the position ↑P_mb_vir of the upper body support portion 65 is theposition of the representative point set in advance for the upper bodysupport portion 65, for example, the position of the master referencepoint Qm. Further, in this embodiment, it is considered that the lateralposition (the Xir-axis direction position and the Yvir-axis directionposition) of the upper body support portion 65 matches the lateralposition of the master base 53 and the posture angle (direction) in theyaw direction of the upper body support portion 65 matches the postureangle (direction) in the yaw direction of the master base 53.Additionally, in this embodiment, since the lateral position of theupper body support portion 65 is fixed to the base 53, the lateralposition of the upper body support portion 65 also has a meaning as thelateral position of the base 3.

Supplementally, a part or all of the master state output from the mastermovement control unit 92 to the main manipulation control unit 94 may bea state quantity viewed in a local coordinate system (for example, amaster upper body coordinate system Cmb to be described later) set forthe master device 51. In this case, in STEP 2, the main manipulationcontrol unit 94 converts the master state (the master state viewed inthe local coordinate system) given from the master movement control unit92 into the master state viewed in the virtual floor coordinate systemCvir and acquires the converted state.

Further, in this embodiment, the posture angle and the angular velocityaround the axis of the lateral direction in the motion of the upper bodysupport portion 65 are not controlled. For this reason, in STEP 2, themain manipulation control unit 94 can omit a process of acquiring theposture angle and the angular velocity around the axis of the lateraldirection in the posture angle ↑θ_mb_vir and the angular velocity↑ω_mb_vir of the virtual upper body support portion motion and a processof acquiring the moment around the axis of the lateral direction in themoment ↑M_mb_vir of the virtual upper body support portion reactionforce. In other words, the posture angle and the angular velocity of thevirtual upper body support portion motion acquired by the mainmanipulation control unit 94 may be only the component in the yawdirection (the direction around the Zvir axis).

Next, in STEP 3, the main manipulation control unit 94 executes aprocess of upper body side bilateral control which is bilateral controlfor the operations of the slave upper body and the upper body supportportion 65 of the master device 51. The process of the upper body sidebilateral control is executed as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 8.

In STEP 3-1, the main manipulation control unit 94 calculates an upperbody reaction force deviation. In this embodiment, this upper bodyreaction force deviation includes an upper body reaction forcetranslational force deviation ↑Efb which is an upper body reaction forcedeviation for the translational force and an upper body reaction forcemoment deviation ↑Emb which is an upper body reaction force deviationfor the moment.

Then, the upper body reaction force translational force deviation ↑Efbis defined as, for example, an index value representing a deviationdegree (divergence degree) of a mutual relationship between thetranslational force ↑F_sb_act of the actual slave upper body reactionforce and the translational force ↑F_mb_act of the actual upper bodysupport portion reaction force from a predetermined target relationship.

Similarly, the upper body reaction force moment deviation ↑Emb isdefined as, for example, an index value representing a deviation degree(divergence degree) of a mutual relationship between the moment↑M_sb_act of the actual slave upper body reaction force and the moment↑M_mb_act of the actual upper body support portion reaction force from apredetermined target relationship.

Specifically, in this embodiment, the upper body reaction forcetranslational force deviation ↑Efb is an index value represented by afunction formed by linearly combining the translational force ↑F_mb_actof the actual upper body support portion reaction force and thetranslational force ↑F_sb_act of the actual slave upper body reactionforce and is defined by, for example, the following formula (1a).

Similarly, the upper body reaction force moment deviation ↑Emb is anindex value represented by a function formed by linearly combining themoment ↑M_mb_act of the actual upper body support portion reaction forceand the moment ↑M_sb_act of the actual slave upper body reaction forceand is defined by, for example, the formula (1b). Additionally, in thepresent specification, “*” is used as a multiplication symbol.

↑Efb=↑F_mb_act+Ratio_fsb*↑F_sb_act   (1a)

↑Emb=↑M_mb_act+Ratio_msb*↑M_sb_act   (1b)

Here, Ratio_fsb and Ratio_msb in the formulas (1a) and (1b) arecoefficients respectively representing the feedback rates of ↑F_sb_actand ↑M_sb_act with respect to the operator P and are respectively set topredetermined values. The coefficient may be any one of a scalar and adiagonal matrix. In this embodiment, the coefficients Ratio_fsb andRatio_msb of the second term on the right side of each of the formulas(1a) and (1b) are set to the same values (≠0). However, Ratio_fsb andRatio_msb can be set to different values or Ratio_fsb and Ratio_msb canbe respectively set to zero.

In this embodiment, a mutual target relationship of ↑F_mb_act and↑F_sb_act is that the upper body reaction force translational forcedeviation ↑Efb defined by the formula (1a) is zero(↑F_mb_act=−Ratio_fsb*↑F_sb_act) and a mutual target relationship of↑M_mb_act and ↑M_sb_act is that the upper body reaction force momentdeviation ↑Emb defined by the formula (1b) is zero(↑M_mb_act=−Ratio_msb*↑M_sb_act).

Then, in STEP 3-1, the main manipulation control unit 94 calculates theupper body reaction force deviation (↑Efb, ↑Emb) according to the aboveformulas (1a) and (1b) from the actual slave upper body reaction force(TF_sb_act, ↑M_sb_act) acquired in STEP 1 and the actual upper bodysupport portion reaction force (↑F_mb_act, ↑M_mb_act) acquired in STEP2.

Next, in STEP 3-2, the main manipulation control unit 94 calculates anupper body position posture deviation. This upper body position posturedeviation includes an upper body position deviation ↑Epb regarding thepositions of the upper body support portion 65 and the slave upper bodyand an upper body posture deviation ↑Ethb regarding the postures(directions) of the upper body support portion 65 and the slave upperbody.

Then, the upper body position deviation ↑Epb is defined as an indexvalue representing a deviation degree (divergence degree) of a mutualrelationship between the position ↑P_mb_vir of the upper body supportportion 65 in the virtual upper body support portion motion and theposition ↑P_sb_act of the slave upper body in the actual slave upperbody motion from a predetermined target relationship. Similarly, theupper body posture deviation ↑Ethb is defined as an index valuerepresenting a deviation degree (divergence degree) of a mutualrelationship between the posture angle ↑θ_mb_vir of the upper bodysupport portion 65 in the virtual upper body support portion motion andthe posture angle ↑θ_sb_act of the slave upper body in the actual slaveupper body motion from a predetermined target relationship.

Specifically, in this embodiment, the upper body position deviation ↑Epbis an index value represented by a function formed by linearly combiningthe position ↑P_mb_vir of the upper body support portion 65 with theposition ↑P_sb_act of the slave upper body and is defined by, forexample, the following formula (2a).

Similarly, the upper body posture deviation ↑Ethb is an index valuerepresented by a function formed by linearly combining the posture angle↑θ_mb_vir of the upper body support portion 65 and the posture angle↑θ_sb_act of the slave upper body and is defined by, for example, theformula (2b).

↑Epb=↑P_mb_vir−Ratio_psb*↑P_sb_act   (2a)

↑Ethb=↑θ_mb_vir−Ratio_thsb*↑θ_sb_act   (2b)

Here, the coefficients Ratio_psb and Ratio_thsb of the formulas (2a) and(2b) are respectively predetermined coefficients (scalar or diagonalmatrix) set in advance. Further, in this embodiment, Ratio_psb andRatio_thsb are set to the same values (≠0). However, Ratio_psb andRatio_thsb can be set to different values or Ratio_psb and Ratio_thsbcan be respectively set to zero.

In this embodiment, a mutual target relationship of ↑P_mb_vir and↑P_sb_act is that the upper body position deviation ↑Epb defined by theformula (2a) is zero (↑P_mb_vir=Ratio_psb*↑P_sb_act) and a mutual targetrelationship of ↑θ_mb_vir and ↑θ_sb_act is that the upper body posturedeviation ↑Ethb defined by the formula (2b) is zero (↑θ_mb_vir=Ratio_thsb*↑θ_sb_act).

Then, in STEP 3-2, the main manipulation control unit 94 calculates theupper body position posture deviation (↑Epb, ↑Ethb) according to theabove formulas (2a) and (2b) from the position ↑P_sb_act and the postureangle ↑θ_sb_act in the actual slave upper body motion acquired in STEP 1and the position ↑P_mb_vir and the posture angle ↑θ_mb_vir in thevirtual upper body support portion motion acquired in STEP 2.

Next, in STEP 3-3, the main manipulation control unit 94 determines thetarget upper body support portion translational acceleration ↑Acc_mb_aimand the target upper body support portion angular acceleration ↑β_mb_aimwhich are the target values of the translational acceleration and theangular acceleration of the upper body support portion 65 and the targetslave upper body translational acceleration ↑Acc_sb_aim and the targetslave upper body angular acceleration ↑β_sb_aim which are the targetvalues of the translational acceleration and the angular acceleration ofthe slave upper body so that the upper body reaction force deviation andthe upper body position posture deviation converge to zero.

In this case, more specifically, the target upper body support portiontranslational acceleration ↑Acc_mb_aim and the target slave upper bodytranslational acceleration ↑Acc_sb_aim are determined so that the upperbody reaction force translational force deviation ↑Efb and the upperbody position deviation ↑Epb respectively converge to zero and thetarget upper body support portion angular acceleration ↑β_mb_aim and thetarget slave upper body angular acceleration ↑β_sb_aim are determined sothat the upper body reaction force moment deviation ↑Emb and the upperbody posture deviation ↑Ethb respectively converge to zero.Additionally, the target upper body support portion translationalacceleration ↑Acc_mb_aim and the target upper body support portionangular acceleration ↑β_mb_aim are the target values of thetranslational acceleration and the angular acceleration of the upperbody support portion 65 viewed in the virtual floor coordinate systemCvir.

A method of determining the target upper body support portiontranslational acceleration ↑Acc_mb_aim and the target slave upper bodytranslational acceleration ↑Acc_sb_aim and a method of determining thetarget upper body support portion angular acceleration ↑β_mb_aim and thetarget slave upper body angular acceleration ↑β_sb_aim are the samemethods. Hereinafter, a method of determining ↑Acc_mb_aim and↑Acc_sb_aim will be described in detail.

When the coefficient representing the rigidity between the upper bodysupport portion 65 and the operator P is indicated by Kmb and thecoefficient representing the rigidity between the slave upper body andthe external object (excluding the floor surface) is indicated by Ksb,it can be considered that the relationship of the following formula (3a)is approximately established between the translational force ↑F_mb_act↑of the actual upper body support portion reaction force and the position↑P_mb_vir in the virtual upper body support portion motion. Similarly,it can be considered that the relationship of the following formula (4a)is approximately established between the translational force ↑F_sb_act↑of the actual slave upper body reaction force and the position ↑P_sb_actin the actual slave upper body motion.

↑F_mb_act=−Kfmb*↑P_mb_vir+↑Cfmb   (3a)

↑F_sb_act=−Kfsb*↑P_sb_act+↑Cfsb   (4a)

Additionally, the coefficients Kfmb and Kfsb are respectivelycoefficients (scalar or diagonal matrix) of predetermined valuescorresponding to so-called spring constants. Further, ↑Cfmb and ↑Cfsbare respectively constant vectors (vectors in which each component is aconstant of a certain value).

The following formula (5a) can be obtained from the above formulas (1a),(3a), and (4a).

↑Efb=(−Kfmb*↑P_mb_vir+↑Cfmb) +Ratio_fsb*(−Kfsb*↑P_sb_act +↑Cfsb)=−Kfmb*↑P_mb_vir−Ratio_fsb*Kfsb*↑P_sb_act +↑Cfmb+Ratio_fsb*↑Cfsb   (5a)

Here, the variables ↑ua and ↑va are defined by the following formulas(6a) and (7a).

↑ua=−Kfmb*↑P_mb_vir−Ratio_fsb*Kfsb*↑P_sb_act   (6a)

↑va=↑P_mb_vir−Ratio_psb*↑P_sb_act   (7a)

At this time, the following formulas (8a) and (9a) can be obtained fromthe above formulas (2a), (5a), (6a), and (7a).

↑Efb=↑ua+↑Cfmb+Ratio_fsb*↑Cfsb   (8a)

↑Epb=↑va   (9a)

Further, in order to allow the upper body reaction force translationalforce deviation ↑Efb to converge to zero, the second-order differentialvalue of the upper body reaction force translational force deviation↑Efb may match a target value ↑Efb_dotdot_aim satisfying the relationalexpression of the following formula (10a). Similarly, in order to allowthe upper body position deviation ↑Epb to converge to zero, thesecond-order differential value of the upper body position deviation↑Epb may match a target value ↑Epb_dotdot_aim satisfying the relationalexpression of the following formula (11a).

↑Efb_dotdot_aim=−Kfbp*↑Efb −Kfbv*↑Efb_dot   (10a)

↑Epb_dotdot_aim=−Kpbp*↑Epb −Kpbv*↑Epb_dot   (11a)

Additionally, the coefficients Kfbp and Kfbv on the right side of theformula (10a) are gains (scalar or diagonal matrix) of predeterminedvalues and ↑Efb_dot is the first-order differential value (the temporalchange rate) of ↑Efb. Further, the coefficients Kpbp and Kpbv on theright side of the formula (11a) are gains (scalar or diagonal matrix) ofpredetermined values and ↑Epb_dot is the first-order differential value(the temporal change rate) of ↑Epb.

Supplementally, in the present specification, the reference sign with“_dot” added thereto represents the first-order differential value (thetemporal change rate) of the state quantity indicated by the referencesign with “_dot” removed therefrom and the reference sign with “_dotdot”added thereto represents the second-order differential value of thestate quantity indicated by the reference sign with “_dotdot” removedtherefrom.

On the other hand the following formulas (12a) and (13a) can be obtainedby second-order differentiation of both sides of each of the aboveformulas (8a) and (9a).

↑Efb_dotdot=↑ua_dotdott   (12a)

↑Epb_dotdot=↑va_dotdot   (13a)

Thus, when the target value of ↑ua_dotdot for allowing the upper bodyreaction force translational force deviation ↑Efb to converge to zero isindicated by ua_dotdot_aim and the target value of ↑va_dotdot forallowing the upper body position deviation ↑Epb to converge to zero isindicated by ↑va_dotdot_aim, the following formulas (14a) and (15a) canbe obtained from the formulas (12a) and (13a).

↑Efb_dotdot_aim=↑ua_dotdot_aim   (14a)

↑Epb_dotdot_aim=↑va_dotdot_aim   (15a)

Then, the following formulas (16a) and (17a) can be obtained from theabove formulas (10a), (11a), (14a), and (15a).

↑ua_dotdot_aim =−Kfbp*↑Efb−Kfbv*↑Efb_dot   (16a)

↑va_dotdot_aim =−Kpbp*↑Epb−Kpbv*↑Epb_dot (17a)

Further, the following formulas (18a) and (19a) for the target upperbody support portion translational acceleration ↑Acc_mb_aim and thetarget slave upper body translational acceleration ↑Acc_sb_aim can beobtained from the relational expression obtained by second-orderdifferentiation of both sides of each of the formulas (6a) and (7a).

↑ua_dotdot_aim=−Kfmb*↑Acc_mb_aim −Ratio_fsb*Kfsb*↑Acc_sb_aim   (18a)

↑va_dotdot_aim=↑Acc_mb_aim−Ratio_psb*↑Acc_sb_aim   (19a)

The following formulas (20a) and (21a) can be obtained by obtaining↑Acc_mb_aim and ↑Acc_sb_aim using the formulas (18a) and (19a) assimultaneous formulas.

↑Acc_mb_aim =−(Ratio_psb/(Kfmb*Ratio_psb+Ratio_fsb*Kfsb))*↑ua_dotdot_aim+(Ratio_fsb*Kfsb/(Kfmb*Ratio_psb+Ratio_fsb*Kfsb))*↑va_dotdot_aim   (20a)

↑Acc_sb_aim =−(1/(Kfmb*Ratio_psb+Ratio_fsb*Kfsb))*↑ua_dotdot_aim−(Kfmb/(Kfmb*Ratio_psb+Ratio_fsb*Kfsb))*↑va_dotdot_aim   (21a)

The above formulas (16a), (17a), (20a), and (21a) are formulas fordetermining the target upper body support portion translationalacceleration ↑Acc_mb_aim and the target slave upper body translationalacceleration ↑Acc_sb_aim.

In this case, ↑ua_dotdot_aim is calculated according to the formula(16a) from the upper body reaction force translational force deviation↑Efb obtained in STEP 3-1 and ↑Efb_dot obtained as the first-orderdifferential value (the temporal change rate) thereof. Further,↑va_dotdot_aim is calculated according to the formula (17a) from theupper body position deviation ↑Epb obtained in STEP 3-2 and ↑Epb_dotobtained as the first-order differential value (the temporal changerate) thereof.

Then, the target upper body support portion translational acceleration↑Acc_mb_aim and the target slave upper body translational acceleration↑Acc_sb_aim are calculated according to the formulas (20a) and (21a)from the calculated values of ↑ua_dotdot_aim and ↑va_dotdot_aim.Accordingly, ↑Acc_mb_aim and ↑Acc_sb_aim are determined so that theupper body reaction force translational force deviation ↑Efb and theupper body position deviation ↑Epb converge to zero.

Supplementally, the following formulas (22a) and (23a) can be obtainedfrom the formulas (1 a) and (2a), the relational expression obtained bydifferentiation of both sides of each of the formulas (1a) and (2a), andthe formulas (16a) and (17a).

↑ua_dotdot_aim =−Kfbp*↑Efb −Kfbv*↑Efb_dot=−Kfbp*(↑F_mb_vir+Ratio_fsb*↑F_sb_act)−Kfbv*(↑F_mb_dot_vir+Ratio_fsb*↑F_sb_dot_act)   (22a)

↑va_dotdot_aim =−Kpbp*↑Epb−Kpbv*↑Epb_dot=−Kpbp*(↑P_mb_vir−Ratio_psb*↑P_sb_act)−Kpbv*(↑P_mb_dot_vir−Ratio_psb*↑P_sb_dot_act)=−Kpbp*(↑P_mb_vir−Ratio_psb*↑P_sb_act)−Kpbv*(↑V_mb_vir−Ratio_psb*↑V_sb_act)   (23a)

Thus, ↑ua_dotdot_aim can be calculated according to the formula (22a)from each of the translational force ↑F_mb_act of the actual upper bodysupport portion reaction force acquired in STEP 2, the translationalforce ↑F_sb_act of the actual slave upper body reaction force acquiredin STEP 1, and ↑F_mb_dot_act and ↑F_sb_dot_act obtained as thefirst-order differential values (the temporal change rates) thereof.

Further, ↑va_dotdot_aim can be calculated according to the formula (23a)from the position ↑P_mb_vir and the translational velocity ↑V_mb_vir inthe virtual upper body support portion motion acquired in STEP 2 and theposition ↑P_sb_act and the translational velocity TV_sb_act in theactual slave upper body motion acquired in STEP 1.

In this case, it is not necessary to calculate the upper body reactionforce translational force deviation ↑Efb and the upper body positiondeviation ↑Epb in STEP 3-1 and STEP 3-2, respectively.

Further, ↑Acc_mb_aim and ↑Acc_sb_aim can be calculated by the relationalexpression that integrates a set of the formulas (16a) and (17a), a setof the formulas (22a) and (23a), or a set of the formulas (20a) and(21a) (the relational expression that does not include ↑ua_dotdot_aimand ↑va_dotdot_aim).

The relational expression for determining the target upper body supportportion angular acceleration ↑β_mb_aim and the target slave upper bodyangular acceleration ↑β_sb_aim can be also obtained as described above.In this case, the following formulas (3b), (4b), (6b), (7b), (10b), and(11b) are respectively defined as the relational expressionsrespectively corresponding to the above formulas (3a), (4a), (6a), (7a),(10a), and (11a).

↑M_mb_vir=−Kmmb*↑θ_mb_vir+↑Cmmb   (3b)

↑M_sb_act=−Kmsb*↑θ_sb_act+↑Cmsb   (4b)

↑ub=−Kmmb*↑θ_mb_vir−Ratio_msb*Kmsb*↑θ_sb_act   (6b)

↑vb=↑θ_mb_vir−Ratio_thsb*↑θ_sb_act   (7b)

↑Emb_dotdot_aim=−Kmbp*↑Emb−Kmbv*↑Emb_dot   (10b)

↑Ethb_dotdot_aim=−Kthbp*↑Ethb−Kthbv*↑Ethb_dot   (11b)

Additionally, similarly to the coefficient Kfmb of the formula (3a) andthe coefficient Kfsb of the formula (4a), the coefficient Kmmb of theformulas (3b) and (6b) and the coefficient Kmsb of the formulas (4b) and(6b) are respectively coefficients (scalar or diagonal matrix) ofpredetermined values representing the rigidity and TCmmb of the formula(3b) and TCmsb of the formula (4b) are respectively constant vectors.Further, the coefficients Kmbp and Kmbv of the formula (10b) and thecoefficients Kthbp and Kthbv of the formula (11b) are respectively gains(scalar or diagonal matrix) of predetermined values.

Then, the following formulas (16b), (17b), (20b), and (21b) respectivelycorresponding to the above formulas (16a), (17a), (20a), and (21a) canbe obtained from these formulas (3b), (4b), (6b), (7b), (10b), and (11b)and the above formulas (1b) and (2b).

↑ub_dotdot_aim=−Kmbp*↑Emb−Kmbv*↑Emb_dot   (16b)

↑vb_dotdot_aim=−Kthbp*↑Ethb−Kthbv*↑Ethb_dot   (17b)

↑β_mb_aim =−(Ratio_thsb/(Kmmb*Ratio_thsb+Ratio_msb*Kmsb))*↑ub_dotdot_aim+(Ratio_msb*Kmsb/(Kmmb*Ratio_thsb+Ratio_msb*Kmsb))*↑vb_dotdot_aim  (20b)

↑β_sb_aim =−(1/(Kmmb*Ratio_thsb+Ratio_msb*Kmsb))*↑ub_dotdot_aim−(Kmmb/(Kmmb*Ratio_thsb+Ratio_msb*Kmsb))*↑vb_dotdot_aim   (21b)

The above formulas (16b), (17b), (20b), and (21b) are formulas fordetermining the target upper body support portion angular acceleration↑β_mb_aim and the target slave upper body angular acceleration↑β_sb_aim. In this case, ↑ub_dotdot_aim is calculated according to theformula (16b) from the upper body reaction force moment deviation ↑Embobtained in STEP 3-1 and ↑Emb_dot obtained as the first-orderdifferential value (the temporal change rate). Further, Tvb dotdot_aimis calculated according to the formula (17b) from the upper body posturedeviation ↑Ethb obtained in STEP 3-2 and ↑Ethb_dot obtained as thefirst-order differential value (the temporal change rate) thereof.

Then, the target upper body support portion angular acceleration↑β_mb_aim and the target slave upper body angular acceleration ↑β_sb_aimare calculated according to the formulas (20b) and (21b) from thecalculated values of ↑ub_dotdot_aim and Tvb dotdot_aim. Accordingly,↑β_mb_aim and ↑β_sb_aim are determined so that the upper body reactionforce moment deviation ↑Emb and the upper body posture deviation ↑Ethbconverge to zero.

Supplementally, the following formulas (22b) and (23b) can be obtainedfrom the formulas (1b) and (2b), the relational expression obtained bydifferentiation of both sides of each of the formulas (1b) and (2b), andthe formulas (16b) and (17b).

↑ub_dotdot_aim =−Kmbp*(↑M_mb_act+Ratio_msb*↑M_sb_act)Kmbv*(↑M_mb_dot_act+Ratio_msb*↑M_sb_dot_act)   (22b)

↑vb_dotdot_aim =−Kthbp*(↑θ_mb_vir−Ratio_thsb*↑θ_sb_act)−Kthbv*(↑ω_mb_vir−Ratio_thsb*↑ω_sb_act)   (23b)

Thus, ↑ub_dotdot_aim can be calculated according to the formula (22b)from each of the moment ↑M_mb_act of the actual upper body supportportion reaction force acquired in STEP 2, the moment ↑M_sb_act of theactual slave upper body reaction force acquired in STEP 1, and↑M_mb_dot_act and ↑M_sb_dot_act obtained as the first-order differentialvalues (the temporal change rates) thereof.

Further, ↑vb_dotdot_aim can be calculated according to the formula (23b)from the posture angle ↑θ_mb_vir and the angular velocity ↑ω_mb_vir inthe virtual upper body support portion motion acquired in STEP 2 and theposture angle ↑θ_sb_act and the angular velocity ↑θ_sb_act in the actualslave upper body motion acquired in STEP 1. In this case, a process ofcalculating the upper body reaction force moment deviation ↑Emb and theupper body posture deviation ↑Ethb in each of STEP 3-1 and STEP 3-2 isnot necessary.

Further, ↑β_mb_aim and ↑β_sb_aim can be calculated by the relationalexpression that integrates a set of the formulas (16b) and (17b), a setof the formulas (22b) and (23b), or a set of the formulas (20b) and(21b) (the relational expression that does not include ↑ub_dotdot_aimand ↑vb_dotdot_aim).

Additionally, in this embodiment, in the motion of each of the upperbody support portion 65 and the slave upper body, the posture angle andthe angular velocity around the axis of the lateral direction are notcontrolled. For this reason, the calculation of the angular accelerationaround the axis of the lateral direction in ↑β_mb_aim and ↑β_sb_aim maybe omitted.

The process of the upper body side bilateral control of STEP 3 isexecuted as described above. Accordingly, the target upper body supportportion translational acceleration ↑Acc_mb_aim and the target upper bodysupport portion angular acceleration ↑β_mb_aim which are components ofthe target upper body support portion motion corresponding to the targetmotion of the upper body support portion 65 and the target slave upperbody translational acceleration ↑Acc_sb_aim and the target slave upperbody angular acceleration ↑β_sb_aim which are components of the targetslave upper body motion corresponding to the target motion of the slaveupper body are determined.

Additionally, the target upper body support portion translationalacceleration ↑Acc_mb_aim and the target upper body support portionangular acceleration ↑β_mb_aim are the translational acceleration andthe angular acceleration viewed in the virtual floor coordinate systemCvir and the target slave upper body translational acceleration↑Acc_sb_aim and the target slave upper body angular acceleration↑β_sb_aim are the translational acceleration and the angularacceleration viewed in the slave side global coordinate system Cs.

Returning to FIG. 7, the main manipulation control unit 94 executes theoutput of the target upper body support portion motion (↑Acc_mb_aim,↑βmb_aim) and the target slave upper body motion (↑Acc_sb_aim,↑βmsb_aim) determined as described above in STEP 4 and STEP 5. The aboveis the process of the main manipulation control unit 94.

[Control Process of Slave Movement Control Unit]

Next, a control process of the slave movement control unit 42 of theslave control device 41 will be described with reference to FIG. 9. Theslave movement control unit 42 sequentially executes a process shown inthe flowchart of FIG. 9 in a predetermined control process cycle.

In STEP 10, the slave movement control unit 42 acquires the target slaveupper body motion. Specifically, the slave movement control unit 42acquires (receives) the target slave upper body translationalacceleration ↑Acc_sb_aim and the target slave upper body angularacceleration ↑β_sb_aim determined by the main manipulation control unit94 from the main manipulation control unit 94 via the communicationdevices 40 and 90.

Further, the slave movement control unit 42 acquires the target slaveupper body translational velocity ↑V_sb_aim which is the targettranslation velocity of the slave upper body and the target slave upperbody angular velocity ↑ω_sb_aim which is the target angular velocity ofthe slave upper body by integrating each of the target slave upper bodytranslational acceleration ↑Acc_sb_aim and the target slave upper bodyangular acceleration ↑β_sb_aim.

Further, the slave movement control unit 42 acquires the target slaveupper body position ↑P_sb_aim which is the target position of the slaveupper body and the target slave upper body posture angle ↑θ_sb_aim whichis the target posture angle of the slave upper body by integrating eachof the target slave upper body translational velocity ↑V_sb_aim and thetarget slave upper body angular velocity ↑ω_sb_aim.

Additionally, a process of obtaining ↑V_sb_aim, ↑P_sb_aim, ↑ω_sb_aim,and ↑θ_sb_aim may be executed by the main manipulation control unit 94.Then, in STEP 10, the slave movement control unit 42 may acquire↑V_sb_aim, ↑P_sb_aim, ↑ω_sb_aim, and ↑θ_sb_aim from the mainmanipulation control unit 94 together with ↑Acc_sb_aim and ↑β_sb_aim orinstead of ↑Acc_sb_aim and ↑β_sb_aim.

In STEP 10, the slave movement control unit 42 further acquires theactual slave upper body reaction force indicated by the output of theslave upper body force detector 33, the actual slave motor rotationangle of each of the electric motors 5 a and 5 b indicated by the outputof the motor rotation detector 6 for each slave movement drive mechanism5, the actual slave slide displacement indicated by the output of theslave slide displacement detector 37, and the actual slave floor shape(the actual slave floor tilt angle) indicated by the output of the slavefloor shape detector 7.

In this case, the actual slave upper body reaction force acquired by theslave movement control unit 42 in STEP 10 is specifically the reactionforce (the translational force and the moment) viewed in the slave upperbody coordinate system Csb to be described below. The slave upper bodycoordinate system Csb is a local coordinate system set for the slaveupper body and is, for example, the three-axis Cartesian coordinatesystem in which the Xsb-axis direction, the Ysb-axis direction, and theZsb-axis direction are set as shown in FIG. 1. The origin of the slaveupper body coordinate system Csb is set to, for example, the slavereference point Qs (the representative point of the slave upper body)(see FIG. 12A).

Then, the moment of the actual slave upper body reaction force acquiredby the slave movement control unit 42 in STEP 10 is, specifically, themoment around the origin (the slave reference point Qs) of the slaveupper body coordinate system Cs. Hereinafter, the reference sign of thetranslational force of the actual slave upper body reaction force viewedin the slave upper body coordinate system Cs acquired in STEP 10 isreferred to as μF_sb_local_act and the reference sign of the moment isreferred to as ↑M_sb_local_act.

The actual slave upper body reaction force (μF_sb_local_act,↑M_sb_local_act) can be obtained by converting the detected value of theactual slave upper body reaction force (the translational force and themoment) viewed in the sensor coordinate system set for the slave upperbody force detector 33 into the actual slave upper body reaction forceviewed in the slave upper body coordinate system Csb.

Further, the actual slave floor tilt angle which is the actual slavefloor shape acquired by the slave movement control unit 42 in STEP 10 isalso the tilt angle viewed in the slave upper body coordinate systemCsb. The actual slave floor tilt angle can be obtained as a set of thetilt angle in the direction around the Xsb axis (the roll direction) ofthe slave upper body coordinate system Csb and the tilt angle in thedirection around the Ysb axis (the pitch direction).

Next, in STEP 11, the slave movement control unit 42 obtains the actualslave upper body motion by using the actual slave motor rotation angle(the observed value) and the actual slave slide displacement (theobserved value) acquired in STEP 10.

Specifically, the slave movement control unit 42 first obtains theactual motor rotational velocity as the observed value of the actualrotational velocity (the angular velocity) of each rotation shaft of theelectric motors 5 a and 5 b by a differential process for obtaining thetemporal change rate of the actual slave motor rotation angle of each ofthe electric motors 5 a and 5 b for each slave movement drive mechanism5. In this case, in order to suppress the influence of the highfrequency noise component of the observed value of the actual slavemotor rotation angle, it is preferable to use a pseudo differential (inother words, inexact differential) process as the differential process.

In the description below, ω_sw_mota_act (n) and ω_sw_motb_act (n) (n=1,2, 3, and 4) are respectively used as the reference signs representingthe actual motor rotational velocity of each of the electric motors 5 aand 5 b of the slave movement drive mechanism 5 corresponding to each offour moving grounding portions 4 (n) (n=1, 2, 3, and 4) of the slavedevice 1.

Further, the slave movement control unit 42 calculates the translationalvelocity V_sw_local_x_act (n) of the moving grounding portion 4 (n) inthe Xsb-axis direction (the front-rear direction) of the slave upperbody coordinate system Csb and the translational velocityV_sw_local_y_act (n) of the moving grounding portion 4 (n) in theYsb-axis direction (the left-right direction) of the slave upper bodycoordinate system Csb for each slave moving grounding portion 4 (n) bythe following formulas (31a) and (31b) from the actual motor rotationalvelocities ω_sw_mota_act (n) and ω_sw_motb_act (n) of the electricmotors 5 a and 5 b.

V_sw_local_x_act (n) =Cswx*(ω_sw_mota_act (n)+ω_sw_motb_act (n))   (31a)

V_sw_loxal_y_act (n) =Cswy*(ω_sw_mota_act (n)−ω_sw_motb_act (n))   (31b)

The coefficients Cswx and Cswy are respectively coefficients ofpredetermined values defined depending on the structure or the like ofthe slave movement drive mechanism 5.

Then, as represented by the following formulas (32a) and (32b), theslave movement control unit 42 obtains an average value of thetranslational velocities V_sw_local_x_act (1) to V_sw_local_x_act (4) offour moving grounding portions 4 (1) to 4 (4) in the Xsb-axis directionas the translational velocity V_sb_local_x_act of the slave upper bodyin the Xsb-axis direction of the slave upper body coordinate system Csband obtains an average value of the translational velocitiesV_sw_local_y_act (1) to V_sw_local_y_act (4) of four moving groundingportions 4 (1) to 4 (4) in the Ysb-axis direction as the translationalvelocity V_sb_local_y_act of the slave upper body in the Ysb-axisdirection of the slave upper body coordinate system Csb.

V_sb_local_x_act =(V_sw_local_x_act (1)+V_sw_local_x_act (2)+V_sw_local_x_act (3)+V_sw_local_x_act (4))/4   (32a)

V_sb_local_y_act =(V_sw_local_y_act (1)+V_sw_local_y_act (2)+(V_sw_local_y_act (3) +V_sw_local_y_act (4))/4   (32b)

Further, the slave movement control unit 42 calculates the angularvelocity ω_sb_local_z_act of the slave base 3 in the direction aroundthe Zsb axis (the yaw direction) of the slave upper body coordinatesystem Csb by the following formula (33).

ω_sb_local_z_act =(V_sw_local_x_act (1)−V_sw_local_x_act (4))/(2*(Lswy(1)+Lswy (4))) +(V_sw_local_x_act (2)−V_sw_local_x_act (3))/(2*(Lswy(2)+Lswy (3)))   (33)

As shown in FIG. 12A, Lswy (1), Lswy (2), Lswy (3), and Lswy (4) of theabove formula (33) are respectively distances between the slavereference point Qs and the grounded portions of the moving groundingportion 4 (1) of the left front portion of the slave base 3, the movinggrounding portion 4 (2) of the left rear portion, the moving groundingportion 4 (3) of the right rear portion, and the moving groundingportion 4 (4) of the right front portion in the Ysb-axis direction (theleft-right direction). Additionally, in this case, the positive andnegative polarities of Lswy (1), Lswy (2), Lswy (3), and Lswy (4) aredefined as Lswy (1)>0, Lswy (2)>0, Lswy (3)<0, and Lswy (4)<0.Additionally, the angular velocity ω_sb_local_z_act of the slave base 3in the yaw direction can be detected by using, for example, an angularvelocity sensor.

Here, in this embodiment, the Zs-axis direction of three coordinate-axisdirections (the Xs-axis direction, the Ys-axis direction, and theZs-axis direction) of the slave side global coordinate system Cs (thethree-axis Cartesian coordinate system) is set as the same direction(the up-down direction) as the Zsb-axis direction of the slave upperbody coordinate system Csb. For this reason, the angular velocityω_sb_local_z_act calculated by the above formula (63) matches theangular velocity ω_sb_z_act in the direction around the Zs axis (the yawdirection) in the angular velocity ↑ω_sb_act of the actual slave upperbody motion viewed in the slave side global coordinate system Cs. Thus,the angular velocity ω_sb_z_act in the direction around the Zs axis (theyaw direction) in the angular velocity ↑ω_sb_act of the actual slaveupper body motion viewed in the slave side global coordinate system Csis obtained by the formula (33).

Then, the slave movement control unit 42 further calculates the postureangle θ_sb_z_act in the direction around the Zs axis (in other words,the direction of the slave upper body) in the posture angle ↑θ_sb_act ofthe actual slave upper body motion viewed in the slave side globalcoordinate system Cs by integrating the angular velocity ω_sb_z_actobtained as described above.

Additionally, in this embodiment, the calculation of the angularvelocity in the direction around the Xs axis and the angular velocity inthe direction around the Ys axis of the slave side global coordinatesystem Cs in the angular velocity ↑ω_sb_act of the actual slave upperbody motion (in other words, the calculation of the angular velocityaround the axis in the direction (the lateral direction) orthogonal tothe up-down direction) is omitted. The same applies to the posture angle↑θ_sb_act of the actual slave upper body motion.

Further, the slave movement control unit 42 obtains components otherthan the Zs-axis direction (the translational velocity V_sb_x_act in theXs-axis direction and the translational velocity V_sb_y_act in theYs-axis direction of the slave side global coordinate system Cs) in thetranslational velocity ↑V_sb_act of the actual slave upper body motionviewed in the slave side global coordinate system Cs by rotationallyconverting vectors in which V_sb_local_x_act and V_sb_local_y_actobtained by the above formulas (32a) and (32b) are two components(two-dimensional vectors on the XsbYsb coordinate plane of the slaveupper body coordinate system Csb) in the direction around the Zs axisonly by an angle matching the posture angle θ_sb_z_act in the directionaround the Zs axis obtained as described above.

Then, the slave movement control unit 42 obtains the position P_sb_x_actin the Xs-axis direction and the position P_sb_y_act in the Ys-axisdirection in the position ↑P_sb_act of the actual slave upper bodymotion by integrating the translational velocities V_sb_x_ac andV_sb_y_act.

Further, the slave movement control unit 42 obtains the positionP_sb_z_act in the Zs-axis direction in the position ↑P_sb_act of theactual slave upper body motion from the actual slave slide displacement(the observed value) acquired in STEP 10 and further obtains thetranslational velocity V_sb_z_act in the Zs-axis direction in thetranslational velocity ↑V_sb_act of the actual slave upper body motionby a differential process of obtaining the temporal change rate ofP_sb_z_act.

In this embodiment, the actual slave upper body motion (the position↑P_sb_act, the translational velocity ↑V_sb_act, the posture angle↑θ_sb_act, and the angular velocity ↑ω_sb_act) is obtained by theabove-described process of STEP 11. Supplementally, the position↑P_sb_act and the posture angle ↑θ_sb_act in the actual slave upper bodymotion may be corrected at any time based on the environmentalrecognition information such as landmarks around the slave device 1 inorder to prevent the accumulation of integration errors.

Next, in STEP 12, the slave movement control unit 42 determines thetarget translation velocity of each moving grounding portion 4 of theslave movement mechanism 2 in response to the target slave upper bodymotion and controls the electric motors 5 a and 5 b corresponding toeach moving grounding portion 4 to realize the target translationvelocity.

Specifically, the slave movement control unit 42 obtains the targettranslation velocity V_sb_local_x_aim of the slave upper body in theXsb-axis direction of the slave upper body coordinate system Csb and thetarget translation velocity V_sb_local_y_aim of the slave upper body inthe Ysb-axis direction of the slave upper body coordinate system Csb byrotationally converting vectors including the translational velocityV_sb_x_aim in the Xs-axis direction and the translational velocity V sby aim in the Ys-axis direction in the target slave upper bodytranslational velocity ↑V_sb_aim acquired in STEP 10 (two-dimensionalvectors on the XsYs coordinate plane of the slave side global coordinatesystem Cs) only by the angle (=−θ_sb_z_aim) that is (−1) times thecomponent θ_sb_z_aim in the direction around the Zs axis of the targetslave upper body posture angle ↑θ_sb_aim acquired in STEP 10 in thedirection around the Zs axis.

Then, the slave movement control unit 42 determines the targettranslation velocity V_sw_local_x_aim (n) in the Xsb-axis direction andthe target translation velocity V_sw_local_y_aim (n) in the Ysb-axisdirection of each of the moving grounding portions 4 (n) (n=1, 2, 3, and4) viewed in the slave upper body coordinate system Csb by the followingformulas (34a) and (34b) to realize the target translation velocitiesV_sb_local_x_aim and V_sb_local_y_aim in the slave upper body coordinatesystem Csb and the component ω_sb_z_aim in the direction around the Zsaxis in the slave upper body angular velocity ↑ω_sb_aim viewed in theslave side global coordinate system Cs.

V_sw_local_x_aim (n)=V_sb_local_x_aim−Lswy (n)*ω_sb_z_aim   (34a)

V_sw_local_y_aim (n)=V_sb_local_y_aim+Lswx (n)*ω_sb_z_aim   (34b)

Further, the slave movement control unit 42 calculates the target motorrotational velocities ω_sw_mota_aim (n) and ω_sw_motb_aim (n) which arethe target values of the rotational velocities of the electric motors 5a and 5 b for realizing the target translation velocitiesV_sw_local_x_aim (n) and V_sw_local_y_aim (n) for each moving groundingportion 4 (n) by the following formulas (35a) and (35b) obtained fromthe above formulas (31a) and (31b).

ω_sw_mota_aim (n) =(Cswy*V_sw_local_x_aim (n)+Cswx*V_sw_local_y_aim(n))/(2*Cswx*Cswy)   (35a)

ω_sw_motb_aim (n) =(Cswy*V_sw_local_x_aim (n)−Cswx*V_sw_local_y_aim(n))/(2*Cswx*Cswy)   (35b)

Next, the slave movement control unit 42 determines the target motordriving forces Tq_sw_mota_aim (n) and Tq_sw_motb_aim (n) which are thetarget values of the driving forces (the rotational driving forces) ofthe electric motors 5 a and 5 b for allowing the actual motor rotationalvelocities ω_sw_mota_act (n) and ω_sw_motb_act (n) of the electricmotors 5 a and 5 b to follow the target motor rotational velocitiesω_sw_mota_aim (n) and ω_sw_motb_aim (n) for each moving groundingportion 4 (n) by the following formulas (36a) and (36b). These targetmotor driving forces Tq_sw_mota_aim (n) and Tq_sw_motb_aim (n) (n=1, 2,3, and 4) are the target slave movement driving forces shown in FIG. 2.

Tq_sw_mota_aim (n) =Kv_sw_mota*(ω_sw_mota_aim (n)−ω_sw_mota_act (n))  (36a)

Tq_sw_motb_aim (n) =Kv_sw_motb*(ω_sw_motb_aim (n)−ω_sw_motb_act (n))  (36b)

Additionally, Kv_sw_mota and Kv_sw_motb are gains of predeterminedvalues. Supplementally, the formulas (36a) and (36b) are formulas fordetermining Tq_sw_mota_aim (n) and Tq_sw_motb_aim (n) by a proportionallaw as an example of a feedback control law, but Tq_sw_mota_aim (n) andTq_sw_motb_aim (n) may be determined by other feedback control laws (forexample, a proportional/differential law and the like).

Next, the slave movement control unit 42 operates the electric motors 5a and 5 b corresponding to each moving grounding portion 4 (n) to outputthe target motor driving forces Tq_sw_mota_aim (n) and Tq_sw_motb_aim(n) determined as described above. Accordingly, the movement of theslave movement mechanism 2 is controlled to realize the translationalvelocity V_sb_x_aim in the X-axis direction and the translationalvelocity V_sb_y_aim in the Y-axis direction in the target slave upperbody translational velocity ↑V_sb_aim.

In this embodiment, the target motor driving forces Tq_sw_mota_aim (n)and Tq_sw_motb_aim (n) of the electric motors 5 a and 5 b correspondingto each moving grounding portion 4 (n) which are the target slavemovement driving forces of the slave movement mechanism 2 are determinedto realize a motion other than the translational velocity in the Zs-axisdirection (the up-down direction) in the target slave upper bodytranslational velocity ↑V_sb_aim by the above-described process of STEP12. Then, the electric motors 5 a and 5 b corresponding to each movinggrounding portion 4 (n) are controlled to generate the target motordriving forces Tq_sw_mota_aim (n) and Tq_sw_motb_aim (n). Accordingly,the movement of the slave movement mechanism 2 is controlled to realizea motion other than the translational velocity in the Zs-axis direction(the up-down direction) in the target slave upper body translationalvelocity ↑V_sb_aim.

Next, in STEP 13, the slave movement control unit 42 controls the slaveslide actuator 36 to realize the translational velocity V_sb_z_aim inthe Zs-axis direction (the up-down direction) in the target slave upperbody translational velocity ↑V_sb_aim.

Specifically, the slave movement control unit 42 determines the targetdriving force of the slide actuator 36 by a feedback control law such asa proportional law or a proportional/differential law in response to thedeviation between the translational velocity V_sb_z_aim in the Zs-axisdirection in the target slave upper body translational velocity↑V_sb_aim acquired in STEP 10 and the translational velocity Vsb_z_actin the Zs-axis direction in the translational velocity ↑V_sb_act of theactual slave upper body motion obtained in STEP 12.

Accordingly, the target driving force of the slide actuator 36 isdetermined so that the deviation approaches zero. Then, the slavemovement control unit 42 controls the slide actuator 36 to generate thetarget driving force.

Next, in STEP 14, the slave movement control unit 42 outputs (transmits)the actual slave upper body reaction force (μF_sb_local_act,↑M_sb_local_act) and the actual slave floor shape (the actual slavefloor tilt angle) acquired in STEP 10 and the actual slave upper bodymotion (↑V_sb_act, ↑P_sb_act, ↑ω_sb_act, ↑θ_sb_act) obtained in STEP 12to the main manipulation control unit 94. The process of the slavemovement control unit 42 is executed as described above.

Supplementally, since the actual slave upper body reaction force(↑F_sb_local_act, ↑M_sb_local_act) output to the main manipulationcontrol unit 94 in STEP 14 is the actual slave upper body reaction forceviewed in the slave upper body coordinate system Csb, the mainmanipulation control unit 94 converts the actual slave upper bodyreaction force input from the slave movement control unit 42 into theactual slave upper body reaction force (↑F_sb_act, ↑M_sb_act) viewed inthe slave side global coordinate system by using the position ↑P_sb_actand the posture angle ↑θ_sb_act of the actual slave upper body motioninput from the slave movement control unit 42 together with the actualslave upper body reaction force. Then, the above-described process isexecuted by using the converted actual slave upper body reaction force.

However, the actual slave upper body reaction force viewed in the slaveupper body coordinate system Csb may be converted into the actual slaveupper body reaction force viewed in the slave side global coordinatesystem Cs by the slave movement control unit 42. In this case, theconverting process in the main manipulation control unit 94 is notnecessary.

[Control Process of Master Movement Control Unit]

Next, a control process of the master movement control unit 92 of themaster control device 91 will be described with reference to FIG. 10.The master movement control unit 92 sequentially executes a processshown in the flowchart of FIG. 10 in a predetermined control processcycle.

In STEP 20, the master movement control unit 92 acquires the targetupper body support portion motion. Specifically, the master movementcontrol unit 92 acquires (receives) the target upper body supportportion translational acceleration ↑Acc_mb_aim and the target upper bodysupport portion angular acceleration ↑β_mb_aim determined by the mainmanipulation control unit 94 as the components of the target upper bodysupport portion motion from the main manipulation control unit 94.

In STEP 20, the master movement control unit 92 further acquires theactual upper body support portion reaction force indicated by the outputof the master upper body force detector 64, the actual master motorrotation angle detected value of each of the electric motors 55 a and 55b and indicated by the output of the motor rotation detector 56 for eachmaster movement drive mechanism 55, the actual master slide displacementindicated by the output of the master slide displacement detector 67,the actual mount displacement (the actual mount actuator displacement)indicated by the output of the mount displacement detector 76corresponding to each of the left and right feet mounts 90L and 90R, theactual foot grounding reaction force indicated by the foot forcedetector 74 corresponding to each of the left and right feet of theoperator P, the actual master base tilted state (the actual base tiltingactuator displacement) indicated by the output of the base tiltingdetector 59, the actual operator foot position posture (a set of theactual operator foot position and the actual operator foot postureangle) indicated by the output of the operator foot position posturedetector 77 for each of the left and right feet of the operator P, andthe actual slave floor shape (the actual slave floor tilt angle) inputfrom the slave control device 41 to the master control device 91.

In this case, the actual upper body support portion reaction forceacquired by the master movement control unit 92 in STEP 20 isspecifically the reaction force (the translational force and the moment)viewed in the master upper body coordinate system Cmb to be describedlater. The master upper body coordinate system Cmb is a local coordinatesystem set for the upper body support portion 65 and is, for example,the three-axis Cartesian coordinate system Cm in which the Xmb-axisdirection, the Ymb-axis direction, and the Zmb-axis direction are set asshown in FIG. 3 or 4. The origin of the master upper body coordinatesystem Cmb is set to, for example, the master reference point Qm (therepresentative point of the upper body support portion 65) (see FIG.12B).

Then, the moment of the actual upper body support portion reaction forceacquired by the master movement control unit 92 in STEP 20 isspecifically the moment around the origin of the master upper bodycoordinate system Cmb (the master reference point Qm). Hereinafter, thereference sign of the translational force of the actual upper bodysupport portion reaction force viewed in the master upper bodycoordinate system Cmb acquired in STEP 20 is indicated by↑F_mb_local_act and the reference sign of the moment is indicated by↑M_mb_local_act.

The actual upper body support portion reaction force (↑F_mb_local_act,↑M_mb_local_act) can be obtained by converting the detected value of theactual upper body support portion reaction force (the translationalforce and the moment) viewed in the sensor coordinate system set for themaster upper body force detector 64 into the actual upper body supportportion reaction force viewed in the master upper body coordinate systemCmb.

Further, the actual operator foot grounding reaction force and theactual operator foot position posture acquired by the master movementcontrol unit 92 in STEP 20 are also the grounding reaction force and theposition posture viewed in each master upper body coordinate system Cmb.Additionally, in this embodiment, the operator foot grounding reactionforce acquired in STEP 20 may by only the translational force in theZmb-axis direction (the up-down direction) of the master upper bodycoordinate system Cmb. Further, the posture angle in the actual operatorfoot position posture may be only the posture angle (the actual footdirection) in the yaw direction (the direction around the Zmb axis).

Next, in STEP 21, the master movement control unit 92 determines thevirtual upper body support portion motion and the correction targetupper body support portion motion. Here, the virtual upper body supportportion motion means the motion of the upper body support portion 65virtually realized with respect to the virtual floor on the assumptionthat the motion of the upper body support portion 65 on the virtualfloor is performed according to the target upper body support portionmotion determined as described above by the main manipulation controlunit 94.

In this embodiment, the operation of the master device 51 is controlledso that the virtual upper body support portion motion with respect tothe virtual floor follows the target upper body support portion motion.For this reason, the master movement control unit 92 determines thevirtual upper body support portion motion by considering that thevirtual upper body support portion motion matches the target upper bodysupport portion motion.

Specifically, as shown by the processing unit 92 a of FIG. 13, themaster movement control unit 92 calculates the virtual upper bodysupport angular velocity ↑ω_mb_vir as the observed value(pseudo-estimated value) of the angular velocity of the upper bodysupport portion 65 with respect to the virtual floor by integrating thetarget upper body support portion angular acceleration ↑β_mb_aim in thetarget upper body support portion motion. Further, the master movementcontrol unit 92 calculates the virtual upper body support portionposture angle ↑θ_mb_vir as the observed value (pseudo-estimated value)of the posture angle of the upper body support portion 65 with respectto the virtual floor by integrating the virtual upper body supportangular velocity ↑ω_mb_vir.

In other words, the master movement control unit 92 determines thetarget upper body support angular velocity ↑ω_mb_aim (the target angularvelocity of the upper body support portion 65) obtained by integratingthe target upper body support portion angular acceleration ↑β_mb_aim andthe target upper body support posture angle ↑θ_mb_aim (the targetposture angle of the upper body support portion 65) obtained byintegrating the target upper body support angular velocity ↑ω_mb_aim asthe virtual upper body support angular velocity ↑ω_mb_vir and thevirtual upper body support portion posture angle ↑θ_mb_vir,respectively.

Further, as shown by the processing unit 92 c of FIG. 14, the mastermovement control unit 92 calculates the virtual upper body supportportion translational velocity ↑V_mb_vir as the observed value(pseudo-estimated value) of the translational velocity of the upper bodysupport portion 65 with respect to the virtual floor by integrating thetarget upper body support portion translational acceleration ↑Acc_mb_aimin the target upper body support portion motion. Further, the mastermovement control unit 92 calculates the virtual upper body supportportion position ↑P_mb_vir as the observed value (pseudo-estimatedvalue) of the position of the upper body support portion 65 with respectto the virtual floor by integrating the virtual upper body supportportion translational velocity ↑V_mb_vir.

In other words, the master movement control unit 92 determines thetarget upper body support portion translational velocity ↑V_mb_aim (thetarget translation velocity of the upper body support portion 65)obtained by integrating the target upper body support portiontranslational acceleration ↑Acc_mb_aim and the target upper body supportportion position ↑P_mb_aim (the target position of the upper bodysupport portion 65) obtained by integrating the target upper bodysupport portion translational velocity ↑V_mb_aim as the virtual upperbody support portion translational velocity ↑V_mb_vir and the virtualupper body support portion position ↑P_mb_vir, respectively.

In STEP 21, as described above, the virtual upper body support angularvelocity ↑ω_mb_vir, the virtual upper body support portion posture angle↑θ_mb_vir, the virtual upper body support portion translational velocity↑V_mb_vir, and the virtual upper body support portion position ↑P_mb_virare obtained as the components of the virtual upper body support portionmotion.

FIG. 15 shows the posture angle θmb_z_vir in the yaw direction (thedirection around the Zvir axis in the virtual floor coordinate systemCvir) in the virtual upper body support portion posture angle ↑θ_mb_virobtained as described above and the position P_mb_x_vir in the Xvir-axisdirection and the position P_mb_y_vir in the Yvir-axis direction in thevirtual upper body support portion position ↑P_mb_vir. Additionally,only the main configuration of the master device 51 is simply shown inFIG. 15. The same applies to FIG. 16 to be described later.

The foot mounts 70L and 70R shown in FIG. 15 show the positions of thefoot mounts 70L and 70R (the positions on the virtual floor) while eachof the left and right feet of each operator P on the foot mounts 70L and70R is grounded during the walking operation of the operator P on themaster device 51.

Further, a route Rt_vir indicated by a one-dotted chain line shows themovement route (the movement route viewed in the XvirYvir coordinateplane of the virtual floor coordinate system Cvir) of the representativepoint (the master reference point Qm) of the upper body support portion65 by the virtual upper body support portion motion according to thewalking operation of the operator P.

Supplementally, as a result of a process of obtaining the virtual upperbody support portion motion in STEP 21, the target upper body supportangular velocity ↑ω_mb_aim (=↑ω_mb_vir), the target upper body supportposture angle ↑θ_mb_aim (=↑θ_mb_vir), the target upper body supportportion translational velocity ↑V_mb_aim (=↑V_mb_vir), and the targetupper body support portion position ↑P_mb_aim (=↑P_mb_vir) which are thecomponents of the target upper body support portion motion (the targetupper body support portion motion viewed in the virtual floor coordinatesystem Cvir) with respect to the virtual floor are also obtained.

Additionally, a process of obtaining ↑ω_mb_vir, ↑θ_mb_vir, ↑V_mb_vir,and ↑P_mb_vir (or ↑ω_mb_aim, ↑θ_mb_aim, ↑V_mb_aim, and ↑P_mb_aim) may beexecuted by the main manipulation control unit 94. Then, the mastermovement control unit 92 may acquire ↑ω_mb_vir, ↑θ_mb_vir, ↑V_mb_vir,and ↑P_mb_vir (or ↑ω_mb_aim, ↑θ_mb_aim, ↑V_mb_aim, and ↑P_mb_aim) fromthe main manipulation control unit 94.

In STEP 21, the correction target upper body support portion motiondetermined by the master movement control unit 92 means the targetmotion (the target motion viewed in the master side global coordinatesystem Cm) of the upper body support portion 65 with respect to themaster floor. Here, it is possible to perform the operation control ofthe master device 51 (the motion control of the upper body supportportion 65 and each foot mount 70) so that the virtual floor as a pseudofloor surface on which the operator P performs the walking operation onthe master device 51 is maintained in a stationary state with respect tothe master floor.

Specifically, it is possible to maintain the virtual floor in a stopstate with respect to the master floor by controlling the operation ofthe master device 51 so that the foot mount 70R (or 70L) on the free legside and the upper body support portion 65 move relatively with respectto the foot mount 70L (or 70R) on the support leg side in such a mannerthat the foot mount 70L (or 70R) on the support leg side which is thefoot mount 70L (or 70R) for grounding the foot on the support leg sideof the operator P is stopped with respect to the master floor and thefoot mount 70R (or 70L) on the free leg side which is the foot mount 70R(or 70L) corresponding to the foot on the free leg side of the operatorP follows a position directly below the foot (in other words, thelateral position of the foot mount 70R (or 70L) on the free leg sidefollows the lateral position of the foot on the free leg side of theoperator P during the walking operation of the operator P on the masterdevice 51.

Hereinafter, the operation control of such a master device 51 (theoperation control of fixing the virtual floor to the master floor) willbe referred to as strict virtual floor control. When the operation ofthe master device 51 is controlled by the strict virtual floor control,the operator P can walk on the virtual floor in the same manner as thewalking operation on the master floor.

However, the position of the master device 51 with respect to the masterfloor or the movable range of the posture angle (direction) in the yawdirection is restricted by the wall or installed object present in theoperation environment of the master device 51 or the cable or the likeconnected to the master device 51. For this reason, in the strictvirtual floor control, a situation is likely to occur in which themaster device 51 cannot move in the operation environment even when theoperator P tries to move the slave device 1 to an arbitrary position oran arbitrary direction on the slave floor by the walking operation onthe virtual floor. Further, a situation is likely to occur in which theslave device 1 cannot be manipulated to move.

For example, as shown in FIG. 15, when the virtual floor is fixed withrespect to the master floor (the virtual floor coordinate system Cvir isfixed with respect to the master side global coordinate system Cm), evenwhen the operator P performs the walking operation to move the masterdevice 51 along the route Rt_vir (shown in the drawings) on the virtualfloor, the master device 51 cannot move to a portion departing from amovable area AR_lim (indicated by a two-dotted chain line in FIG. 15) ofthe master device 51 in the route Rt_vir during the strict virtual floorcontrol.

Here, in this embodiment, the master movement control unit 92 determinesthe correction target upper body support portion motion as the targetmotion of the upper body support portion 65 with respect to the masterfloor to suppress the representative point of the master device 51, forexample, the position of the master reference point Qm from deviatingfrom a predetermined reference position set in advance in the operationenvironment of the master device 51 and suppress the posture angle(direction) of the upper body support portion 65 in the yaw directionfrom deviating from a predetermined reference posture angle (referencedirection) in the yaw direction set in the operation environment of themaster device 51.

Additionally, in this embodiment, since the position of the masterreference point Qm is set as described above, that position has ameaning as the position of the upper body support portion 65. Inaddition, the lateral position of the master reference point Qm also hasa meaning as the lateral position of the base 53. Further, in thisembodiment, the reference position of the master device 51 includes thelateral position (the Xm-axis direction position and the Ym-axisdirection position) and the up-down direction position (the Zm-axisdirection position).

The correction target upper body support portion motion is determined bycorrecting the target upper body support portion motion (thiscorresponds to the target upper body support portion motion in thestrict virtual floor control) on the assumption that the virtual flooris fixed to the master floor. In this case, as the components of thecorrection target upper body support portion motion, the correctiontarget upper body support posture angle ↑θ_mb_mdfd_aim which is thetarget posture angle of the upper body support portion 65 viewed in themaster side global coordinate system Cm and the correction target upperbody support portion position ↑P_mb_mdfd_aim which is the targetposition of the upper body support portion 65 viewed in the master sideglobal coordinate system Cm are determined.

The correction target upper body support posture angle ↑θ_mb_mdfd_aim isdetermined by the process shown by the processing unit 92 b of FIG. 13.Additionally, in the description below, for convenience of description,the origin of the master side global coordinate system Cm, the Xm-axisdirection, the Ym-axis direction, and the Zm-axis direction are set torespectively match the origin of the virtual floor coordinate systemCvir, the Xvir-axis direction, the Yvir-axis direction, and theZvir-axis direction when starting the walking operation of the operatorP on the master device 51 (when starting the manipulation of the slavedevice 1).

In the process of the processing unit 92 b, the master movement controlunit 92 extracts the angular acceleration β_mb_z_aim which is the yawdirection component (the component in the direction around the Zvir axisof the virtual floor coordinate system Cvir) in the target upper bodysupport portion angular acceleration ↑β_mb_aim (the target upper bodysupport portion angular acceleration ↑β_mb_aim viewed in the virtualfloor coordinate system Cvir) acquired in STEP 20.

Then, the master movement control unit 92 obtains the non-correctionangular velocity ω_mb_z_vir which is the angular velocity obtained byintegrating the angular acceleration β_mb_z_aim and further obtains thenon-correction posture angle θ_mb_z_vir which is the posture angleobtained by integrating the non-correction angular velocity ω_mb_z_vir.In other words, the non-correction angular velocity ω_mb_z_vir and thenon-correction posture angle θ_mb_z_vir are the angular velocity (theangular velocity viewed in the master side global coordinate system Cm)and the posture angle (the posture angle viewed in the master sideglobal coordinate system Cm) in the yaw direction of the upper bodysupport portion 65 defined by the target upper body support portionmotion while the virtual floor is fixed to the master floor.

Supplementally, the non-correction angular velocity ω_mb_z_vir and thenon-correction posture angle θ_mb_z_vir respectively match thecomponents in the yaw direction (the direction around the Zvir axis) ofthe virtual upper body support angular velocity ↑ω_mb_vir and thevirtual upper body support portion posture angle ↑θ_mb_vir calculated bythe processing unit 92 a. Thus, the yaw direction components of↑ω_mb_vir and ↑θ_mb_vir may be extracted as the non-correction angularvelocity ω_mb_z_vir and the non-correction posture angle θ_mb_z_vir.

Further, the master movement control unit 92 obtains the correctionangular acceleration (=β_mb_z_aim+β_mb_z_fb) obtained by correcting theangular acceleration β_mb_z_aim in the yaw direction extracted from thetarget upper body support portion angular acceleration ↑β_mb_aim by thefeedback correction amount β_mb_z_fb. Then, the master movement controlunit 92 obtains the correction angular velocity ω_mb_z_mdfd as theangular velocity obtained by integrating the correction angularacceleration and further obtains the correction posture angleθ_mb_z_mdfd as the posture angle (the direction of the yaw direction)obtained by integrating the correction angular velocity ω_mb_z_mdfd.

In this case, the feedback correction amount β_mb_z_fb is calculated bythe arithmetic process of the following formula (41) using the updatedvalues of the correction angular velocity ω_mb_z_mdfd and the correctionposture angle θ_mb_z_mdfd and the reference posture angle θ0_mb_z in theyaw direction of the upper body support portion 65 viewed in the masterside global coordinate system Cm.

β_mb_z_fb=−Kthfb*(θ_mb_z_mdfd−θ0_mb_z)−Komfb*ω_mb_z_mdfd   (41)

Additionally, the coefficients Kthfb and Komfb are gains ofpredetermined values of the formula (41). The values of the coefficientsKthfb and Komfb are set so that an absolute value of the feedbackcorrection amount β_mb_z_fb converges to a comparatively small value.

Thus, the feedback correction amount β_mb_z_fb is determined so that thecorrection posture angle θ_mb_z_mdfd gradually converges to thereference posture angle θ0_mb_z. Additionally, the process of obtainingthe feedback correction amount β_mb_z_fb by the formula (41) is aprocess of obtaining β_mb_z_fb by a proportional/differential law, butβ_mb_z_fb may be obtained by using other feedback control laws (aproportional law and the like).

The master movement control unit 92 further obtains a difference(=θ_mb_z_mdfd−θ_mb_z_vir) between the correction posture angleθ_mb_z_mdfd and the non-correction posture angle θ_mb_z_vir obtained asdescribed above as the posture angle correction amount θmb_z_add of theupper body support portion 65 in the yaw direction. Then, the mastermovement control unit 92 obtains the correction target upper bodysupport posture angle ↑θ_mb_mdfd_aim viewed in the master side globalcoordinate system Cm by adding the posture angle correction amountθmb_z_add to the component (the yaw direction component) in thedirection around the Zvir axis of the virtual upper body support portionposture angle ↑θ_mb_vir (or the target upper body support posture angle↑θ_mb_aim) determined by the process of the processing unit 92 a.

Thus, the correction target upper body support posture angle↑θ_mb_mdfd_aim is determined by replacing the yaw direction component ofthe virtual upper body support portion posture angle ↑θ_mb_vir (or thetarget upper body support posture angle ↑θ_mb_aim) determined by theprocess of the processing unit 92 a with the correction posture angleθ_mb_z_mdfd.

Additionally, the correction target upper body support angular velocity↑ω_mb_mdfd_aim which is the target angular velocity of the upper bodysupport portion 65 with respect to the master floor may be determinedinstead of the correction target upper body support posture angle↑θ_mb_mdfd_aim or in addition to the correction target upper bodysupport posture angle ↑θ_mb_mdfd_aim. The correction target upper bodysupport angular velocity ↑ω_mb_mdfd_aim can be determined by replacing,for example, the yaw direction component of the virtual upper bodysupport angular velocity ↑ω_mb_vir (or the target upper body supportangular velocity ↑ω_mb_aim) determined by the process of the processingunit 92 a with the correction angular velocity ω_mb_z_mdfd.

Further, the correction target upper body support portion position↑P_mb_mdfd_aim is determined by the process shown by the processing unit92 d of FIG. 14. In the process of the processing unit 92 d, the mastermovement control unit 92 first obtains the rotation conversiontranslational acceleration ↑Acc_mb_a by performing the rotationalconversion in which the target upper body support portion translationalacceleration ↑Acc_mb_aim (the target upper body support portiontranslational acceleration ↑Acc_mb_aim viewed in the virtual floorcoordinate system Cvir) acquired in STEP 20 is rotated in the yawdirection (the direction around the Zvir axis) by the posture anglecorrection amount θmb_z_add obtained as described above.

Thus, the rotation conversion translational acceleration ↑Acc_mb_a isthe translational acceleration capable of allowing the direction (thedirection in the yaw direction) of the rotation conversion translationalacceleration ↑Acc_mb_a with respect to the upper body support portion 65after the correction of the posture angle of the yaw direction by theposture angle correction amount θmb_z_add to match the direction assumedby the target upper body support portion translational acceleration↑Acc_mb_aim (specifically, the direction (the direction of the yawdirection) of the target upper body support portion translationalacceleration ↑Acc_mb_aim with respect to the upper body support portion65 having the posture angle of the virtual upper body support portionposture angle ↑θ_mb_vir).

Next, the master movement control unit 92 obtains the correctiontranslational acceleration (=↑Acc_mb_a+↑Acc_mb_fb) in which the rotationconversion translational acceleration ↑Acc_mb_a is corrected by thefeedback correction amount ↑Acc_mb_fb. Then, the master movement controlunit 92 obtains the correction target upper body support portiontranslational velocity ↑V_mb_mdfd_aim (the target translation velocitysubjected to the correction of the upper body support portion 65) whichis the translational velocity obtained by integrating the correctiontranslational acceleration and further obtains the correction targetupper body support portion position ↑P_mb_mdfd_aim (the target positionsubjected to the correction of the upper body support portion 65) whichis the position obtained by integrating the correction target upper bodysupport portion translational velocity ↑V_mb_mdfd_aim. The correctiontarget upper body support portion translational velocity ↑V_mb_mdfd_aimand the correction target upper body support portion position↑P_mb_mdfd_aim are respectively the translational velocity and theposition viewed in the master side global coordinate system Cm.

In this case, the feedback correction amount ↑Acc_mb_fb is calculated byan arithmetic process of the following formula (42) using the updatedvalues of the correction target upper body support portion translationalvelocity TV_mb_mdfd_aim and the correction target upper body supportportion position ↑P_mb_mdfd_aim and the reference position TPO of theupper body support portion 65 viewed in the master side globalcoordinate system Cm.

↑Acc_mb_fb=−Kpfb*(↑P_mb_mdfd_aim−↑P0)−Kvfb*↑V_mb_mdfd_aim   (42)

Additionally, the coefficients Kpfb and Kvfb of the formula (42) aregains (scalar or diagonal matrix) of predetermined values. The values ofthe coefficients Kpfb and Kvfb are set so that an absolute value of thefeedback correction amount ↑Acc_mb_fb converges to a comparatively smallvalue.

Thus, the feedback correction amount ↑Acc_fb is determined so that thecorrection target upper body support portion position ↑P_mb_mdfd_aimgradually converges to the reference position ↑P0 a. Additionally, theprocess of obtaining the feedback correction amount ↑Acc_mb_fb by theformula (42) is a process of obtaining ↑Acc_mb_fb by aproportional/differential law, but ↑Acc_mb_fb may be obtained by usingother feedback control laws (a proportional law and the like).

The process of STEP 21 is executed as described above.

FIG. 16 shows the master device 51 in which the posture angleθmb_z_mdfd_aim in the yaw direction (the direction around the Zm axis ofthe master global coordinate system Cm) in the correction target upperbody support posture angle ↑θ_mb_mdfd_aim and the positionP_mb_x_mdfd_aim in the Xm-axis direction and the positionP_mb_y_mdfd_aim in the Ym-axis direction of the master global coordinatesystem Cm in the correction target upper body support portion position↑P_mb_mdfd_aim obtained as described above by the process of STEP 21 areindicated by a solid line.

Further, this drawing shows the master device 51 in which the positionP_mb_x_vir in the Xm-axis direction and the position P_mb_y_vir in theYm-axis direction in the virtual upper body support portion position↑P_mb_vir and the posture angle θ_mb_z_vir in the yaw direction (thedirection around the Zm axis) in the virtual upper body support portionposture angle ↑θ_mb_vir defined by the target upper body support portionmotion (↑Acc_mb_aim, ↑β_mb_aim) viewed in the master side globalcoordinate system Cm are indicated by a two-dotted chain line on theassumption that the virtual floor is fixed to the master floor.

Then, P_mb_x_add and P_mb_y_add shown in FIG. 16 respectively show thecorrection amount in the Xm-axis direction and the correction amount inthe Ym-axis direction in the correction amount from the virtual upperbody support portion position ↑P_mb_vir to the correction target upperbody support portion position ↑P_mb_mdfd_aim viewed in the master sideglobal coordinate system Cm. Further, θmb_z_add shown in FIG. 16 showsthe posture angle correction amount θmb_z_add in the yaw directionobtained by the process of the processing unit 92 b.

Further, in the example shown in FIG. 16, the position of the origin ofthe master side global coordinate system Cm is the reference position↑P0_mb of the representative point (the master reference point Qm) ofthe upper body support portion 65 and the Xm-axis direction of themaster side global coordinate system Cm is the reference directionθ0_mb_z of the upper body support portion 65 in the yaw direction.

In this embodiment, since the correction target upper body supportportion motion is determined as described above, as shown in FIG. 16,the virtual floor coordinate system Cvir which is the coordinate systemfixed to the virtual floor moves with respect to the master floor (moveswith respect to the master side global coordinate system Cm) so that theposition and the direction (the posture angle in the yaw direction) ofthe upper body support portion 65 viewed in the virtual floor coordinatesystem Cvir are suppressed from deviating from the reference positionand the reference direction.

Additionally, the coordinate system Cmb_vir attached to the masterdevice 51 indicated by a two-dotted chain line in FIG. 16 and thecoordinate system Cmb_mdfd attached to the master device 51 indicated bya solid line in FIG. 16 correspond to the master upper body coordinatesystem Cmb which is the coordinate system indicating the positionposture of the upper body support portion 65 of each correspondingmaster device 51.

Returning to the description of FIG. 10, as a next step, in STEP 22, themaster movement control unit 92 obtains the actual upper body supportportion motion which is an actual motion of the upper body supportportion 65 viewed in the master side global coordinate system Cm usingthe actual master motor rotation angle (the observed value) and theactual master slide displacement (the observed value) acquired in STEP20. The process of STEP 23 is executed in the same manner as the processof STEP 11 relating to the slave movement control unit 42.

In this case, STEP 23 will be described by respectively replacing the“slave”, the “slave upper body”, the “slave device 1”, the “slavemovement control unit 42”, the “base 3”, the “moving grounding portion4”, the “movement drive mechanism 5”, the “electric motors 5 a and 5 b”,“FIG. 12A”, and “STEP 10” in the description of the process of STEP 11with the “master”, the “upper body support portion” (or the “upper bodysupport portion 65”), the “master device 51”, the “master movementcontrol unit 92”, the “base 53”, the “moving grounding portion 54”, the“movement drive mechanism 55”, the “electric motors 55 a and 55 b”,“FIG. 12B”, and “STEP 20” and replacing “s” of the reference sign with“m”.

In this embodiment, the actual upper body support portion motion (theposition ↑P_mb_act, the translational velocity ↑V_mb_act, the postureangle ↑θ_mb_act, and the angular velocity ↑ω_mb_act) is obtained by theprocess of STEP 22. Additionally, in this embodiment, the calculation ofthe angular velocity in the direction around the Xm axis and the angularvelocity in the direction around the Ym axis of the master side globalcoordinate system Cm (in other words, the calculation of the angularvelocity around the axis in the direction (the lateral direction)orthogonal to the up-down direction) in the angular velocity ↑ω_mb_actof the actual upper body support portion motion is omitted. The sameapplies to the posture angle ↑θ_mb_act of the actual upper body supportportion motion.

Supplementally, the position ↑P_mb_act and the posture angle ↑θ_mb_actin the actual upper body support portion motion may be corrected at anytime based on the environmental recognition information such aslandmarks around the master device 51 in order to prevent theaccumulation of integration error.

Next, in STEP 23, the master movement control unit 92 determines thetarget translation velocity of each moving grounding portion 54 of themaster movement mechanism 52 in response to the correction target upperbody support portion motion and controls the electric motors 55 a and 55b corresponding to each moving grounding portion 54 to realize thetarget translation velocity. The process of STEP 23 is executed in thesame manner as the process of STEP 12 relating to the slave movementcontrol unit 42.

Specifically, the master movement control unit 92 obtains the targettranslation velocity V_mb_local_x_aim of the upper body support portion65 in the Xmb-axis direction of the master upper body coordinate systemCmb and the target translation velocity V_mb_local_y_aim of the upperbody support portion 65 in the Ymb-axis direction of the master upperbody coordinate system Cmb by rotationally converting vectors includingthe translational velocity V_mb_x_mdfd_aim in the Xm-axis direction andthe translational velocity V_mb_y_mdfd_aim in the Ym-axis direction inthe correction target upper body support portion translational velocity↑V_mb_mdfd_aim obtained in STEP 21 (two-dimensional vectors on the XmYmcoordinate plane of the master side global coordinate system Cm) only bythe angle (=−θ_mb_z_mdfd_aim) that is (−1) times the componentθ_mb_z_mdfd_aim in the direction around the Zm axis (the yaw direction)of the correction target upper body support posture angle ↑θ_mb_mdfd_aimobtained in STEP 21 in the direction around the Zm axis (the yawdirection).

Then, the master movement control unit 92 determines the targettranslation velocity V_mw_local_x_aim (n) in the Xmb-axis direction andthe target translation velocity V_mw_local_y_aim (n) in the Ymb-axisdirection of each moving grounding portion 54 (n) (n=1, 2, 3, and 4)viewed in the master upper body coordinate system Cmb by the followingformulas (44a) and (44b) to realize the target translation velocitiesV_mb_local_x_aim and V_mb_local_y_aim in the master upper bodycoordinate system Cmb and the component ω_mb_z_mdfd_aim in the directionaround the Zm axis in the correction target upper body support angularvelocity ↑ω_mb_mdfd_aim viewed in the master side global coordinatesystem Cm.

Additionally, the correction target upper body support angular velocityCω_mb_mdfd_aim is obtained by differentiating, for example, thecorrection target upper body support posture angle ↑θ_mb_mdfd_aimobtained in STEP 21. Alternatively, for example, in the process of STEP21, the correction target upper body support angular velocity↑ω_mb_mdfd_aim may be obtained by replacing the yaw direction componentof the virtual upper body support angular velocity ↑ω_mb_vir (or thetarget upper body support angular velocity ↑ω_mb_aim) determined by theprocess of the processing unit 92 a with the correction angular velocityω_mb_z_mdfd obtained by the processing unit 92 b.

V_mw_local_x_aim (n)=V_mb_local_x_aim−Lmwy (n)*ω_mb_z_mdfd_aim   (44a)

V_mw_local_y_aim (n)=V_mb_local_y_aim+Lmwx (n)*ω_mb_z_mdfd_aim   (44b)

Further, the master movement control unit 92 calculates the target motorrotational velocities ωmw_mota_aim (n) and ω_mw_motb_aim (n) which arethe target values of the rotational velocities of the electric motors 55a and 55 b for realizing the target translation velocitiesV_mw_local_x_aim (n) and V_mw_local_y_aim (n) for each moving groundingportion 54 (n) by the following formulas (45a) and (45b).

ω_mw_mota_aim (n) =(Cmwy*V_mw_local_x_aim (n)+Cmwx*V_mw_local_y_aim(n))/(2*Cmwx*Cmwy)   (45a)

ω_mw_motb_aim (n) =(Cmwy*V_mw_local_x_aim (n)−Cmwx*V_mw_local_y_aim(n))/(2*Cmwx*Cmwy)   (45b)

Next, the master movement control unit 92 determines the target motordriving forces Tq_mw_mota_aim (n) and Tq_mw_motb_aim (n) which are thetarget values of the driving forces (the rotational driving forces) ofthe electric motors 55 a and 55 b for allowing the actual motorrotational velocities ω_mw_mota_act (n) and ω_mw_motb_act (n) of theelectric motors 55 a and 55 b to follow the target motor rotationalvelocities ωmw_mota_aim (n) and ω_mw_motb_aim (n) for each movinggrounding portion 54 (n) by the following formulas (46a) and ( 46 b).These target motor driving forces Tq_mw_mota_aim (n) and Tq_mw_motb_aim(n) (n=1, 2, 3, and 4) are the target master movement driving forcesshown in FIG. 5.

Tq_mw_mota_aim (n) =Kv_mw_mota*(ω_mw_mota_aim (n)−ω_mw_mota_act (n))  (46a)

Tq_sw_motb_aim (n) =Kv_mw_motb*(ω_mw_motb_aim (n)−ω_mw_motb_act (n)) (46 b)

Additionally, Kv_mw_mota and Kv_mw_motb are gains of predeterminedvalues. Supplementally, the formulas (46a) and ( 46 b) are formulas fordetermining Tq_mw_mota_aim (n) and Tq_mw_motb_aim (n) by a proportionallaw as an example of a feedback control law, but Tq_mw_mota_aim (n) andTq_mw_motb_aim (n) may be determined by other feedback control laws (forexample, a proportional/differential law and the like).

Next, the master movement control unit 92 operates the electric motors55 a and 55 b corresponding to each moving grounding portion 54 (n) tooutput the target motor driving forces Tq_mw_mota_aim (n) andTq_mw_motb_aim (n) determined as described above. Accordingly, themovement of the master movement mechanism 52 is controlled to realizethe translational velocity V_mb_x_mdfd_aim in the X-axis direction andthe translational velocity V_mb_y_mdfd_aim in the Y-axis direction inthe correction target upper body support portion translational velocity↑V_mb_mdfd_aim.

In this embodiment, the target motor driving forces Tq_mw_mota_aim (n)and Tq_mw_motb_aim (n) of the electric motors 55 a and 55 bcorresponding to each moving grounding portion 54 (n) which are thetarget master movement driving forces of the master movement mechanism52 are determined to realize a motion other than the translationalvelocity in the Zm-axis direction (the up-down direction) in thecorrection target upper body support portion translational velocity↑V_mb_mdfd_aim by the above-described process of STEP 23. Then, theelectric motors 55 a and 55 b corresponding to each moving groundingportion 54 (n) are controlled to generate the target motor drivingforces Tq_mw_mota_aim (n) and Tq_mw_motb_aim (n). Accordingly, themovement of the master movement mechanism 52 is controlled to realize amotion other than the translational velocity in the Zm-axis direction(the up-down direction) in the correction target upper body supportportion translational velocity ↑V_mb_mdfd_aim.

Next, in STEP 24, the master movement control unit 92 controls themaster slide actuator 66 to realize the translational velocityV_mb_z_mdfd_aim in the Zm-axis direction (the up-down direction) in thecorrection target upper body support portion translational velocity↑V_mb_mdfd_aim.

Specifically, similarly to the process of STEP 13 for the slave movementcontrol unit 42, the master movement control unit 92 determines thetarget driving force of the slide actuator 66 so that the deviationbetween the component V_mb_z_mdfd_aim in the Zm-axis direction of thecorrection target upper body support portion translational velocity↑V_mb_mdfd_aim and the translational velocity Vmb_z_act in the Zm-axisdirection of the translational velocity ↑V_mb_act of the actual upperbody support portion motion obtained in STEP 23 approaches zero inresponse to the deviation. Then, the master movement control unit 92controls the slide actuator 66 to generate a target driving force.

Next, in STEP 25, the master movement control unit 92 executes a processof the foot mount control which is the operation control of each footmount 70. This control process is executed as shown in the flowchart ofFIG. 11.

In STEP 25-1, the master movement control unit 92 obtains the virtualoperator foot position posture which is a set of the position and theposture angle of each foot of the operator P with respect to the virtualfloor in response to the actual operator foot position posture of eachof the left and right feet of the operator P acquired in STEP 20. Inthis case, the virtual operator foot position posture is obtained byconverting the coordinates of the actual operator foot position posture(the position posture viewed in the master upper body coordinate systemCmb) of each of the left and right feet of the operator P acquired inSTEP 20 into the position posture viewed in the virtual floor coordinatesystem Cvir using the virtual upper body support portion position↑P_mb_vir and the virtual upper body support portion posture angle↑θ_mb_vir obtained in STEP 21.

Hereinafter, the position and the posture angle in the virtual operatorfoot position posture for the left foot of the operator P arerespectively referred to as the virtual operator left foot position↑P_mp_L_vir and the virtual operator left foot posture angle ↑θ_mp_L_virand the position and the posture angle in the virtual operator footposition posture for the right foot of the operator P are respectivelyreferred to as the virtual operator right foot position ↑P_mp_R_vir andthe virtual operator right foot posture angle ↑θ_mp_R_vir. Further, aset of the virtual upper body support portion position ↑P_mb_vir and thevirtual upper body support portion posture angle ↑θ_mb_vir is referredto as the virtual upper body support portion position posture.

Next, in STEP 25-2, the master movement control unit 92 determineswhether or not the left foot of the operator P is grounded to the leftfoot mount 70L (in other words, whether or not the left foot is the footon the support leg side). This determination is based on whether or notthe magnitude of the translational force in the up-down direction (theZmb-axis direction) in the actual operator foot grounding reaction force(the observed value) acquired in STEP 20 exceeds a predetermined valuein response to the left foot.

When the determination result of STEP 25-2 is negative (the left foot ofthe operator P is the foot on the free leg side), the master movementcontrol unit 92 obtains the target left foot mount position posturewhich is a set of the target position and the target posture angle(thetarget position and the target posture angle viewed in the virtual floorcoordinate system Cvir) of the left foot mount 95L in STEP 25-3.Hereinafter, the target position and the target posture angle in thetarget left foot mount position posture are respectively referred to asthe target left foot mount position ↑P_mp_L_aim and the target left footmount posture angle βθ_mp_L_aim.

The lateral position (the position P_mp_L_x_aim in the Xvir-axisdirection and the position P_mp_L_y_aim in the Yvir-axis direction) inthe target left foot mount position ↑P_mp_L_aim is set to match thelateral position (the position P_mp_L_x_vir in the Xvir-axis directionand the position P_mp_L_y_vir in the Yvir-axis direction) in the virtualoperator left foot position ↑P_mp_L_vir. Further, the posture angleθ_mp_L_z_aim in the direction around the Zvir axis (the yaw direction)in the target left foot mount posture angle βθ_mp_L_aim is set to matchthe posture angle θ_mp_L_z vir in the direction around the Zvir axis ofthe virtual operator left foot posture angle ↑θ_mp_L_vir.

Further, the position in the up-down direction (the positionP_mp_L_z_aim in the Zvir-axis direction) in the target left foot mountposition ↑P_mp_L_aim and the posture angle in the direction around theaxis in the lateral direction (the posture angle θ_mp_L_x_vir in thedirection around the Xvir axis and the posture angle θ_mp_L_y_vir in thedirection around the Yvir axis) in the target left foot mount postureangle βθ_mp_L_aim are determined in response to, for example, the actualslave floor shape (the actual slave floor tilt angle) acquired in STEP20.

Specifically, for example, the tilt angle of the virtual floor surfaceis set in response to the actual slave floor tilt angle. In this case,the tilt angle of the virtual floor is set so that the tilt angle in theroll direction (the direction around the Xmb axis) of the virtual floorsurface viewed in the master upper body coordinate system Cmb and thetilt angle in the pitch direction (the direction around the Ymb axis)respectively match the tilt angle in the roll direction (the directionaround the Xsb axis) in the actual slave floor tilt angle viewed in theslave upper body coordinate system Csb and the tilt angle in the pitchdirection (the direction around the Ysb axis).

Then, the position P_mp_L_z_aim in the up-down direction (the Zvir-axisdirection) of the target left foot mount position ↑P_mp_L_aim and theposture angle θ_mp_L_x_vir in the direction around the Xvir axis and theposture angle θ_mp_L_y_vir in the direction around the Yvir axis in thetarget left foot mount posture angle βθ_mp_L_aim are set so that theupper surface (the surface for grounding the left foot of the operatorP) of the left foot mount 70L moves along the virtual floor surfacehaving the tilt angle set as described above from a position immediatelybefore the time when the determination result of STEP 25-2 changes frompositive to negative.

In this case, P_mp_L_z_aim, θ_mp_L_x_vir, and θ_mp_L_y_vir arecalculated by using the target left foot mount position postureimmediately before a time point at which the determination result ofSTEP 25-2 changes from positive to negative, the tilt angle of thevirtual floor surface, the position P_mp_L_x_aim in the Xvir-axisdirection and the position P_mp_L_y_aim in the Yvir-axis direction inthe target left foot mount position ↑P_mp_L_aim determined as describedabove in STEP 25-3, and the posture angle θ_mp_L_z_aim in the directionaround the Zvir axis (the yaw direction) of the target left foot mountposture angle βθ_mp_L_aim determined as described above in STEP 25-3.

Further, when the determination result of STEP 25-2 is positive, themaster movement control unit 92 does not execute a process of STEP 25-3and maintains the target left foot mount position posture at a valueimmediately before a time point at which the determination result ofSTEP 25-2 changes from negative to positive.

Next, in STEP 25-4, the master movement control unit 92 determineswhether or not the right foot of the operator P is grounded to the rightfoot mount 70R (in other words, whether or not the right foot is thefoot on the support leg side). This determination is based on whether ornot the magnitude of the translational force in the up-down direction(the Zmb-axis direction) in the actual foot grounding reaction force(the observed value) acquired in STEP 20 corresponding to the right footexceeds a predetermined value.

When the determination result of STEP 25-4 is negative (the right footof the operator P is the foot on the free leg side), the master movementcontrol unit 92 obtains the target right foot mount position posturewhich is a set of the target position and the target posture angle (thetarget position and the target posture angle viewed in the virtual floorcoordinate system Cvir) of the right foot mount 95L in STEP 25-5.Hereinafter, the target position and the target posture angle in thetarget right foot mount position posture are respectively referred to asthe target right foot mount position ↑P_mp_R_aim and the target rightfoot mount posture angle ↑θ_mp_R_aim.

The target right foot mount position ↑P_mp_R_aim and the target rightfoot mount posture angle ↑θ_mp_R_aim are determined by the same processas the process of STEP 25-3 for the left foot mount 70L.

Further, when the determination result of STEP 25-4 is positive, themaster movement control unit 92 does not execute a process of STEP 25-5and maintains the target right foot mount position posture at a valueimmediately before a time point at which the determination result ofSTEP 25-4 changes from negative to positive.

Next, in STEP 25-6, the master movement control unit 92 controls eachmount actuator 75 of the mount drive mechanisms 71L and 71R so that arelationship (a positional relationship and a posture relationship)between the actual position posture for the left and right feet mounts70L and 70R and the actual position posture of the upper body supportportion 65 matches a relationship between the target foot mount positionposture (the target left foot mount position posture and the targetright foot mount position posture) and the virtual upper body supportportion position posture (or the target upper body support portionposition posture).

Specifically, the master movement control unit 92 calculates the targetleft foot mount local position posture and the target right foot mountlocal position posture which are the target values of the positionposture (the position and the posture angle) of each of the foot mounts70L and 70R viewed in the master upper body coordinate system Cmb fromthe virtual upper body support portion position posture (↑P_mb_vir,↑θ_mb_vir) obtained in STEP 21 and the target left foot mount positionposture and the target right foot mount position posture. In otherwords, the target left foot mount local position posture and the targetright foot mount local position posture are the target values of therelative position posture of each of the foot mounts 70L and 70R for theupper body support portion 65.

In this case, the target left foot mount local position posture isobtained by converting the coordinate of the target left foot mountposition posture viewed in the virtual floor coordinate system Cvir intothe position posture viewed from the master upper body coordinate systemCmb defined by the virtual upper body support portion position posture(↑P_mb_vir, ↑θ_mb_vir). Further, the target right foot mount localposition posture is obtained by converting the coordinate of the targetright foot mount position posture viewed in the virtual floor coordinatesystem Cvir into the position posture viewed from the master upper bodycoordinate system Cmb defined by the virtual upper body support portionposition posture (↑P_mb_vir, ↑θ_mb_vir).

Next, the master movement control unit 92 determines the targetdisplacement (the target displacement capable of realizing the targetleft foot mount local position posture) of the output unit of each mountactuator 75 (each mount actuator 75 rotationally driving the left footmount 70L in the direction around each coordinate axis and each mountactuator 75 driving the left foot mount 70L in a translational manner ineach coordinate-axis direction of the master upper body coordinatesystem Cmb) of the left mount drive mechanism 71L from the target leftfoot mount local position posture.

Similarly, the master movement control unit 92 determines the targetdisplacement (the target displacement capable of realizing the targetright foot mount local position posture) of the output unit of eachmount actuator 75 (each mount actuator 75 rotationally driving the rightfoot mount 70R in the direction around each coordinate axis and eachmount actuator 75 driving the right foot mount 70R in a translationalmanner in each coordinate-axis direction of the master upper bodycoordinate system Cmb) of the right mount drive mechanism 71R from thetarget right foot mount local position posture.

Next, the master movement control unit 92 determines the target drivingforce of the mount actuator 75 so that the deviation between the actualmount actuator displacement (the observed value) acquired in STEP 20corresponding to the mount actuator 75 and the target displacement ofthe output unit of each mount actuator 75 of each of the left and rightmount drive mechanisms 71 approaches zero by a feedback control law (aproportional law, a proportional/differential law, or the like) inresponse to the deviation. Then, the master movement control unit 92controls each mount actuator 75 to output the target driving forcedetermined by each mount actuator 75 of each of the left and right mountdrive mechanisms 71.

The master movement control unit 92 executes a process (foot mountcontrol process) of STEP 25 as described above and executes a process ofSTEP 26. In STEP 26, the master movement control unit 92 controls thetilt angle of the master base 53 in response to the translationalacceleration (hereinafter, referred to as the upper body support portionacceleration correction amount ↑Acc_mb_fb) added to suppress thefeedback correction amount ↑Acc_mb_fb (the position of the upper bodysupport portion 65 (the position of the master reference point Qm))obtained by the process of the processing unit 92 d in STEP 21 fromdeviating from the reference position. The upper body support portionacceleration correction amount ↑Acc_mb_fb corresponds to the additionaltranslational acceleration of the disclosure.

In this case, the tilt angle of the master base 53 is controlled so thatthe translational acceleration in the direction of canceling thetranslational acceleration correction amount ↑Acc_mb_fb by the componentin the slope direction of gravity generated due to the inclination ofthe master base 53 is applied to the upper body support portion 65.

Specifically, the master movement control unit 92 converts thecoordinate of the upper body support portion acceleration correctionamount ↑Acc_mb_fb viewed in the master side global coordinate system Cminto the local acceleration correction amount ↑Acc_mb_fb_local which isthe translational acceleration viewed in the master upper bodycoordinate system Cmb defined by the correction target upper bodysupport portion position ↑P_mb_mdfd_aim and the correction target upperbody support posture angle ↑θ_mb_mdfd_aim.

Then, the master movement control unit 92 obtains the target local basetilt angle θ_base_y_local which is the tilt angle of the master base 53in the direction around the Ymb axis (the pitch direction) in the masterupper body coordinate system Cmb and the target local base tilt angleθ_base_x_local which is the target tilt angle of the master base 53 inthe direction around the Xmb axis (the roll direction) of the masterupper body coordinate system Cmb by the following formulas (50a) and(50b) using the component Acc_mb_fb_x_local in the Xmb-axis directionand the component Acc_mb_fb_y_local in the Ymb-axis direction in thelocal acceleration correction amount ↑Acc_mb_fb_local.

θ_base_x_local=−atan(Acc_mb_fb_y_local/g)   (50a)

θ_base_y_local=atan(Acc_mb_fb_x_local/g)   (50b)

Additionally, atan( ) is an inverse tangent function and g is agravitational acceleration constant.

Next, the master movement control unit 92 obtains the targetdisplacement of the output unit of each base tilting actuator 58 forrealizing the target local base tilt angles θ_base_x_local andθ_base_y_local. Further, the master movement control unit 92 determinesthe target driving force of the base tilting actuator 58 so that thedeviation between the target displacement of the output unit of eachbase tilting actuator 58 and the actual base tilting actuatordisplacement (the observed value) acquired in STEP 20 approaches zero bya feedback control law (a proportional law and aproportional/differential law) in response to the deviation. Then, themaster movement control unit 92 controls each base tilting actuator 58to output the target driving force determined by each base tiltingactuator 58.

The master movement control unit 92 executes a process of STEP 26 asdescribed above and further executes a process of STEP 27. In STEP 27,the master movement control unit 92 outputs the actual upper bodysupport portion reaction force acquired in STEP 20 and the virtual upperbody support portion motion determined in STEP 21 to the mainmanipulation control unit 94. The process of the master movement controlunit 92 is executed as described above.

Supplementally, since the actual upper body support portion reactionforce output to the main manipulation control unit 94 in STEP 27 is theactual upper body support portion reaction force viewed in the masterupper body coordinate system Cmb, the main manipulation control unit 94converts the actual upper body support portion reaction force input fromthe master movement control unit 92 into the actual upper body supportportion reaction force viewed in the virtual floor coordinate systemCvir using the virtual upper body support portion position posture(↑P_mb_vir, ↑θ_mb_vir) input from the master movement control unit 92together with the actual upper body support portion reaction force.Then, the above-described process is executed by using the convertedactual upper body support portion reaction force.

However, the actual upper body support portion reaction force viewed inthe master upper body coordinate system Cmb may be converted into theactual upper body support portion reaction force viewed in the virtualfloor coordinate system Cvir by the master movement control unit 92. Inthis case, the converting process in the main manipulation control unit94 is not necessary.

Additionally, in this embodiment, a process in which the mainmanipulation control unit 94 determines the target upper body supportportion motion in STEP 3 corresponds to the A1 process of the disclosureand all of this process and the control process of the master movementcontrol unit 92 include processes corresponding to the A process, the Cprocess, the D process, and the E process of the disclosure. Further,the control process of the slave movement control unit 42 corresponds tothe B process of the disclosure.

(Operation and Effect)

According to the manipulation system of this embodiment described above,the operation of the master device 51 is controlled so that the operatorP can perform the same walking operation as the normal walking operationon the master device 51. For example, as shown in FIG. 17, when theoperator P performs the walking operation on the master device 51, theoperation of the master device 51 is controlled to perform a relativemotion of the upper body support portion 65 and each of the foot mounts70L and 70R in accordance with the walking operation. Additionally, FIG.17 schematically shows an operation of the master device 51 in a statein which the upper body support portion acceleration correction amount↑Acc_mb_fb is sufficiently small. Further, the master device 51 is shownin FIG. 17 in a simplified manner.

As shown in FIG. 17, when the operator P moves the left and right legsto perform the walking operation on the master device 51, the upper bodysupport portion 65 relatively moves with respect to the foot mount 70Rfor grounding the right foot in accordance with the motion of the upperbody of the operator P with respect to the right foot and the left footmount 90L relatively moves with respect to the foot mount 70R on thesupport leg side to be located directly below the foot on the free legside (the left foot) in a case in which the support leg of the operatorP is a right leg. The same applies to a case in which the support leg ofthe operator P is the left leg.

Accordingly, the operator P can perform the walking operation on thevirtual floor surface as if walking on the actual floor while smoothlygrounding the foot on the free leg side to the corresponding foot mount70.

Then, in this case, the upper body support portion accelerationcorrection amount (the feedback correction amount) ↑Acc_mb_fb is addedto the translational acceleration of the upper body support portion 65so that the position of the master reference point Qm which is theposition of the upper body support portion 65 gradually converges to apredetermined reference position ↑P0 of the master side globalcoordinate system Cvir. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 16, thelateral position of the upper body support portion 65 (or the lateralposition of the master base 53) is suppressed from deviating from thereference position (the lateral reference position) and the masterdevice 51 can be moved to stay in the movable range AR_lim even when theoperator P continuously performs the walking operation.

Further, since the operation of the master device 51 is also controlledso that the up-down direction position of the upper body support portion65 does not deviate from the up-down direction reference position, theoperator P can perform the walking operation as if going up and down astaircase or a slope so that the up-down direction position of the upperbody support portion 65 does not greatly change from the up-downdirection reference position even when a difference between the up-downdirection positions of the foot mounts 70L and 70R in the target footmounts is set so that the virtual floor becomes a staircase or a slopein response to the slave floor shape.

Further, as shown in FIG. 18, since all of the master base 53, the upperbody support portion 65, and the foot mounts 70L and 70R are tilted inresponse to the upper body support portion acceleration correctionamount (the feedback correction amount) ↑Acc_mb_fb, the component in theslope direction of the gravitational acceleration applied to theoperator P (the slope direction of the master base 53) is applied tooperate the translational acceleration by the upper body support portionacceleration correction amount ↑Acc_mb_fb. Further, the operator P canperform the walking operation as if the upper body support portionacceleration correction amount ↑Acc_mb_fb is not added.

Further, as shown in FIG. 19, since the foot mounts 70L and 70R aretilted in response to the inclination of the slave floor below the slavedevice 1, the operator P can perform the walking operation in a suitablemanner while sensibly recognizing the inclination of the slave floorsurface on which the slave device 1 moves.

As described above, the operator P can perform the walking operation onthe master device 51 in the same manner as on the actual floor with thevirtual floor having a shape conforming to the floor shape of the slavefloor. Further, the slave device 1 can be easily moved in a desiredmanner on the slave floor.

Further, in this embodiment, since the target upper body support portionmotion and the target slave upper body motion are determined by theprocess of the upper body side bilateral control, the upper body of theoperator P receives a reaction force corresponding to an external forcefrom the upper body support portion 65, for example, when the externalforce caused by, for example, a contact with the obstacle acts on theslave upper body. Further, the operator P can sensibly and easilyrecognize that an external force that hinders the movement of the slavedevice 1 has acted on the slave upper body. Further, the operator P canappropriately execute a corresponding measure such as stopping themovement of the slave device 1.

Second Embodiment

Next, a second embodiment of the disclosure will be described below withreference to FIGS. 20 to 25. In this embodiment, as an example of thedisclosure, a manipulation system which manipulates a moving body 101shown in FIG. 20 by the manipulation device 51 having the same structureas that of the first embodiment will be described. In the descriptionbelow, similarly to the first embodiment, the moving body 101 of themanipulation object is referred to as the slave device 101 and themanipulation device 51 for manipulating the slave device 101 is referredto as the master device 51.

Additionally, in this embodiment, the slave side global coordinatesystem Cs, the master side global coordinate system Cm, the virtualfloor coordinate system Cvir, and the master upper body coordinatesystem Cmb are coordinate systems set in the same manner as in the firstembodiment.

[Configuration of Slave Device]

The configuration of the slave device 101 of this embodiment will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 20 and 21. Additionally, similarly tothe first embodiment, the floor of the operation environment of theslave device 101 is referred to as the “slave floor”. Further, in orderto distinguish the left and right components of the slave device 101,“L” and “R” are respectively added to the reference sign of the leftcomponent and the reference sign of the right component if necessary.

Referring to FIG. 20, the slave device 101 of this embodiment is, forexample, a human-shaped leg type moving body and includes an upper body102 which is a base, a pair of left and right (two) legs 103L and 103Rwhich extends from the lower portion of the upper body 102, a pair ofleft and right (two) arms 110L and 11OR which extends from the upperportion of the upper body 102, and a head portion 117 which is attachedto the upper end of the upper body 102. Additionally, in FIG. 17, adirection perpendicular to the paper surface is the front-rear directionof the slave device 101.

Each leg 103 includes a thigh portion 104, a lower leg portion 105, anda foot 106 as links of components and the thigh portion 104, the lowerleg portion 105, and the foot 106 are sequentially connected to eachother from the side of the upper body 102 via a hip joint mechanism 107,a knee joint mechanism 108, and an ankle joint mechanism 109. Each ofthe joint mechanisms 107, 108, and 109 of each leg 103 is a jointmechanism having a known structure and includes one or more joints (notshown).

For example, as the joint, a joint having a known structure with adegree of freedom of rotation of one axis (a joint including two membersconnected so as to be rotatable relative to each other around onerotation shaft) can be used. Then, the hip joint mechanism 107, the kneejoint mechanism 108, and the ankle joint mechanism 109 of each leg 3respectively include, for example, three joints, one joint, and twojoints. Accordingly, each leg 103 is configured such that the foot 106as its tip portion has six degrees of freedom of motion with respect tothe upper body 102.

Each arm 110 includes an upper arm portion 111, a forearm portion 112,and a hand portion 113 as links of components and the upper arm portion111, the forearm portion 112, and the hand portion 113 are sequentiallyconnected to each other from the side of the upper body 102 via ashoulder joint mechanism 114, an elbow joint mechanism 115, and a wristjoint mechanism 116. Each of the joint mechanisms 114, 115, and 116 ofeach arm 110 includes one or more joints (not shown).

For example, the shoulder joint mechanism 114, the elbow joint mechanism115, and the wrist joint mechanism 116 of each arm 110 are configured asjoints having a degree of freedom of rotation of one axis similarly toeach leg 103 and respectively include three joints, one joint, and twojoints. Accordingly, each arm 110 is configured such that the handportion 113 as its tip portion has six degrees of freedom of motion withrespect to the upper body 102.

Further, the hand portion 113 of each arm 110 can be configured toperform necessary tasks such as gripping an object. For example, eachhand portion 113 can be configured as a clamp mechanism, a plurality offinger mechanisms capable of performing the same operation as a humanfinger, a tool, or the like.

The head portion 117 is attached to the upper end portion of the upperbody 102 via the neck joint mechanism 118. The neck joint mechanism 118may include one or more joints to have, for example, a degree of freedomof rotation of one axis, two axes, or three axes. Alternatively, thehead portion 117 may be fixed to the upper end portion of the upper body102.

The slave device 101 which is configured as described above can move(walk) on the slave floor surface by moving each leg 103 so that thefoot 106 of each leg 103 is alternately moved in the air and landed(grounded) on the floor surface in the same manner as, for example, ahuman walking operation.

Supplementally, each of the leg 103 and the arm 110 of the slave device101 is not limited to six degrees of freedom of motion and may beconfigured to have, for example, seven or more degrees of freedom ofmotion. Further, each of the leg 103 and the arm 110 is not limited to arotation type joint and may include a linear motion type joint. Further,the slave device 101 is not limited to the moving body having two arms110L and 11OR and may be a moving body having one or three or more armsor a moving body without an arm. Further, the slave device 101 may be amoving body without the head portion 117. Further, the upper body 102 ofthe slave device 101 may be configured to include, for example, one ormore joints between the upper and lower portions so that the upper andlower portions can be relatively displaced.

Referring to FIG. 21, the slave device 101 further includes a jointactuator 121 for driving each joint. Further, the slave device 101includes a joint displacement detector 122 which detects an actual jointdisplacement corresponding to an actual displacement of each joint, anupper body posture detector 123 which detects an actual upper bodyposture corresponding to an actual posture of the upper body 102, afloor reaction force detector 125 which detects an actual foot floorreaction force corresponding to a floor reaction force applied from thegrounded slave floor surface to each foot 106, and a floor shapedetector 127 which detects an actual slave floor shape corresponding toan actual floor shape of the slave floor to which the slave device 101is grounded via each foot 106 as detectors for detecting the operationstate of the slave device 101.

Each of the joint actuator 121 and the joint displacement detector 122is provided for each joint of the slave device 101 and the floorreaction force detector 125 is provided for each leg 103. However, onlyone of each of the joint actuator 121, the joint displacement detector122, and the floor reaction force detector 125 is representatively shownin FIG. 2.

Each joint actuator 121 is configured as, for example, an electric motorand is connected to the joint to drive a joint of a driving object viaan appropriate power transmission mechanism such as a speed reducer (notshown). Additionally, each joint actuator 121 is not limited to theelectric motor and may be configured as, for example, a hydraulicactuator. Further, each joint actuator 121 is not limited to therotation type actuator and may be a linear actuator.

Each joint displacement detector 122 is configured as, for example, arotary encoder, a resolver, a potentiometer, or the like and isconnected to the joint (or the rotation member rotating in accordancewith the displacement of the joint) of the detection object so as todetect the actual joint displacement of the joint.

The upper body posture detector 123 includes, for example, an inertiasensor having an acceleration sensor 123 a capable of detecting athree-axis acceleration (three-dimensional translational accelerationvector) and an angular velocity sensor 123 b capable of detecting athree-axis angular velocity (three-dimensional angular velocity vector)and is mounted on the upper body 102 to detect the acceleration and theangular velocity generated in the upper body 102.

In this embodiment, the upper body posture detector 123 includes aposture estimation unit 123 c which executes a process of estimating anactual upper body inclination corresponding to the inclination (theposture angle in the direction around the axis in the lateral direction)in the actual upper body posture from the acceleration and the angularvelocity respectively detected from the acceleration sensor 123 a andthe angular velocity sensor 123 b. The posture estimation unit 123 c isconfigured as, for example, a microcomputer or an electronic circuitunit including a processor, a memory, an interface circuit, and thelike.

Then, the posture estimation unit 123 c estimates the actual upper bodyinclination from the observed values of the acceleration and the angularvelocity by, for example, a known arithmetic process method such as astrap-down method and outputs the estimated value (the observed value).Additionally, the actual upper body inclination which is estimated bythe posture estimation unit 123 c is more specifically a set of theinclinations of the upper body 102 in the directions around twoorthogonal lateral axes (for example, X and Y axes of a slave sideglobal coordinate system Cgs to be described below).

Supplementally, the posture estimation unit 123 c may be mounted on theslave device 1 at a position separated from the mounting positions ofthe acceleration sensor 123 a and the angular velocity sensor 123 b.Further, the posture estimation unit 123 c may be included in a slavecontrol unit 131 to be described later. Further, the posture estimationunit 123 c can be configured to estimate not only the inclination of theupper body 102 of the slave device 101 but also the posture includingthe direction of the upper body 102.

Further, the upper body posture detector 123 may be configured toestimate the inclination of the upper body 102 (or the posture of theupper body 102 including a direction) by performing a known motioncapture process, for example, using a video captured by the slave device101 by a camera. In addition, as a method of estimating the inclination(or the posture including a direction) of the upper body 102, variousknown methods capable of estimating the own position and the posture ofan arbitrary object can be employed.

Each floor reaction force detector 125 is configured as, for example, asix-axis force sensor capable of detecting the translational force andthe moment (the moment of the force) as a three-dimensional vector andis attached to the slave device 101 to detect the actual foot floorreaction force (the translational force and the moment) applied to thefoot 106 of each leg 103. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, each floorreaction force detector 125 is interposed between the foot 106 of eachleg 103 and the ankle joint mechanism 109.

In this embodiment, for example, the floor shape detector 127 isconfigured to sequentially recognize the shape of the slave floor in theperiphery of the slave device 101 using a camera or a distancemeasurement sensor (laser range finder or the like) and to estimate theactual slave floor shape below each foot 106 (specifically, the tiltangle and the height of the slave floor below each foot 106) of theslave device 101 based on the recognized floor shape.

Additionally, for example, when the floor shape detector 127 can acquirethe shape information of each part of the slave floor from an externalserver or the like, the floor shape detector 127 may be configured toestimate the floor shape of the slave floor below each foot 106 from theposition information of each foot 106 of the slave device 1 and theshape information of the slave floor.

The slave device 101 further includes a slave control unit 131 which hasa function of executing an operation target determination process of theentire operation of the slave device 101, a joint control unit 132 whichhas a function of controlling the operation of each joint via the jointactuator 121, and a communication device 133 which performs a wirelesscommunication with a master control unit 141 to be described later.These are mounted at arbitrary positions on the slave device 101 such asthe upper body 102.

Each of the slave control unit 131 and the joint control unit 132 isconfigured as, for example, an electronic circuit unit including amicrocomputer, a memory, an interface circuit, and the like. Observationdata detected or estimated by each of the upper body posture detector123 and each floor reaction force detector 125 is input to the slavecontrol unit 131 and command information on the operation of the slavedevice 101 is input from the master control unit 141 to be describedlater thereto via the communication device 133. Additionally, theobservation data or command information input to the slave control unit131 may be filtering values subjected to a filtering process such as alow-pass filter.

Then, the slave control unit 131 includes a slave operation targetdetermination unit 131 a which determines a basic operation target ofthe slave device 101 based on the command information or the like inputfrom the master control unit 141, a composite compliance operationdetermination unit 131 b which appropriately corrects the operationtarget for the motion of each leg 103 in the basic operation target byusing a process of compliance control, a joint displacementdetermination unit 131 c which determines a target joint displacementcorresponding to a target value of the displacement (the rotation angle)of each joint in response to the operation target of the slave device101, and an upper body lateral position estimation unit 131 d whichestimates an actual slave upper body lateral position corresponding tothe actual lateral position of the upper body 102 of the slave device101 as a function realized by both or one of the implemented hardwareconfiguration and program (software configuration).

In this embodiment, the basic operation target which is determined bythe slave operation target determination unit 131 a includes a targetslave upper body motion which is a target motion of the upper body 102,a target slave leg motion which is a target motion of each leg 103, anda target slave floor reaction force which is a target value of a floorreaction force applied from the slave floor surface to the slave device101.

In this case, the target slave upper body motion is specificallyrepresented by the time series of the target upper body position posturewhich is a target value of a set of the position and the posture of theupper body 102 and the target slave leg motion is specificallyrepresented by the time series of the target foot position posture whichis a target value of a set of the position and the posture of the foot106 of each leg 103.

Here, unless otherwise specified, the target position and the targetposture of each of the upper body 102 of the slave device 101 and eachfoot 106 are represented as the target values of the position and theposture viewed in the slave side global coordinate system Cs (thethree-axis Cartesian coordinate system including three coordinate axesXs, Ys, and Zs) set (defined) in the operation environment of the slavedevice 101 similarly to the case of the first embodiment.

Further, in this embodiment, the target slave floor reaction force inthe basic operation target which is determined by the slave operationtarget determination unit 131 a is represented by each of the timeseries of the target total floor reaction force which is the targetvalue of the total floor reaction force applied from the floor surfaceto the slave device 101, the target total floor reaction force centerpoint which is the target position of the pressure center point (COP) ofthe target total floor reaction force, the target foot floor reactionforce which is the target value of the floor reaction force applied fromthe floor surface to each foot 106 of the slave device 101, and thetarget foot floor reaction force center point which is the targetposition of the pressure center point (COP) of the target foot floorreaction force in each foot 106. Additionally, the “total floor reactionforce” is a resultant force of the floor reaction forces respectivelyapplied to two feet 106 and 106 of the slave device 101. Further, whenthe slave device 101 does not receive an external force other than thefloor, the target total floor reaction force center point is the targetposition of a zero moment point (ZMP).

Additionally, although not shown in FIG. 21, since the slave device 101of this embodiment includes the arm 110 and the head portion 117 whichare movable with respect to the upper body 102, the slave operationtarget determination unit 131 a also further has a function ofdetermining the target slave arm motion which is the target motion ofeach arm 110 and the target slave head motion which is the target motionof the head portion 117.

In this case, the target slave arm motion is represented by, forexample, the time series of the relative target position posture of thehand portion 113 of each arm 110 with respect to the upper body 102 (thetarget position posture viewed in the local coordinate system set forthe upper body 102). Similarly, the target slave head motion isrepresented by, for example, the time series of the relative targetposition posture of the head portion 117 with respect to the upper body102 (the target position posture viewed in the local coordinate systemset for the upper body 102).

Alternatively, the target slave arm motion may be formed by, forexample, the time series of the target joint displacement of each jointof each arm 110 and similarly, the target slave head motion may beformed by, for example, the time series of the target joint displacementof each joint of the neck joint mechanism 118.

The actual joint displacement (the observed value) of each jointdetected by each joint displacement detector 122 is input to the jointcontrol unit 132 and the target joint displacement of each jointdetermined by the slave control unit 131 is input thereto. Then, thejoint control unit 132 controls each joint actuator 121 so that theactual joint displacement for each joint follows the target jointdisplacement by the function realized by the implemented hardwareconfiguration and program (software configuration).

Specifically, the joint control unit 132 determines the target drivingforce of the joint actuator 121 so that the deviation between the targetjoint displacement and the actual joint displacement detected by thejoint displacement detector 122 converges to zero by a feedback controllaw using the deviation for each joint. Then, the joint control unit 132controls the joint actuator 121 to output the determined target drivingforce from the joint actuator 121. In this case, as feedback controllaws, for example, known feedback control laws such as a P law(proportional law), a PD law (proportional/differential law), and a PIDlaw (proportional/integral/differential law) can be used.

[Configuration of Master Device]

Next, a configuration of the master device 51 will be described withreference to FIGS. 3 and 4 and FIGS. 22 and 23 described in the firstembodiment. The mechanical configuration of the master device 51 of thisembodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment. For this reason,since the same reference signs as those of the first embodiment is usedfor the mechanical configuration of the master device 51 of thisembodiment, the description thereof will be omitted.

On the other hand the master device 51 of this embodiment is differentfrom the master device 51 of the first embodiment in some configurationsrelating to the control and the detector. Specifically, referring toFIGS. 22 and 23, similarly to the first embodiment, the master device 51of this embodiment includes the upper body force detector 64 whichdetects an actual upper body support portion reaction force, the motorrotation detector 56 which detects the actual motor rotation angle ofeach of the electric motors 55 a and 55 b of the movement drivemechanism 55, the slide displacement detector 67 which detects an actualslide displacement for the master elevating mechanism 60, the basetilting detector 59 which detects an actual master base tilted state (anactual base tilting actuator displacement) for the master base 53, themount displacement detector 76 which detects an actual mountdisplacement (an actual mount actuator displacement) for the mount drivemechanism 71, and the foot force detector 74 which detects an actualoperator foot grounding reaction force for each foot of the operator P.These detectors are the same as those of the first embodiment.

On the other hand in this embodiment, the master device 51 includes anoperator motion detector 78 (shown in FIG. 22) which detects an actualmotion of the operator P including an actual operator foot positionposture corresponding to the actual position posture of each foot of theoperator P and an actual operator upper body inclination correspondingto the actual inclination (the posture angle in the direction around theaxis in the lateral direction) of the upper body of the operator P.

In this embodiment, this operator motion detector 78 includes one ormore cameras 78 a mounted on the master device 51. The camera 78 a isattached to the support column 61 or the base 53 of the master device 51to photograph the movement of the upper body of the operator P on themaster device 51 and the movement of each leg thereof. Additionally, amarker may be attached to the upper body or each leg of the operator P.

The operator motion detector 78 further includes a motion estimationunit 78 b which executes a process of estimating the motion state of theoperator P from the video captured by the camera 78 a. The motionestimation unit 78 b is configured as, for example, a microcomputer oran electronic circuit unit including a processor, a memory, an interfacecircuit, and the like and is mounted at an arbitrary appropriateposition of the master device 51 such as a base 53. Additionally, themotion estimation unit 78 b may be included in the master control unit141 to be described later.

This motion estimation unit 78 b estimates the motion state of theoperator P from the captured video input from the camera 78 a, forexample, by executing a known motion capture process and outputs dataindicating the estimated motion state. In this case, in this embodiment,the motion state which is estimated by the motion estimation unit 78 bincludes an actual operator foot position posture of each foot of theoperator P and an actual operator upper body inclination in an actualoperator upper body posture which is an actual posture of the upper bodyof the operator P.

In this case, the motion estimation unit 78 b can estimate the actualoperator upper body inclination and the actual operator foot positionposture viewed in the local coordinate system set for the master device51, for example, the master upper body coordinate system Cmb set(defined) similarly to the case of the first embodiment. Additionally,the motion estimation unit 78 b can be configured to estimate the actualdirection (the actual operator upper body direction) of the upper bodyof the operator P in addition to the actual operator upper bodyinclination.

Supplementally, a method of estimating the motion state of the upperbody and each foot of the operator P by the operator motion detector 78may be a method other than the motion capture method using a videocaptured by the camera 78 a. For example, an inertia sensor including anacceleration sensor and an angular velocity sensor can be attached toeach of the upper body and each foot of the operator P and the motionstate of the upper body and each foot of the operator P can be estimatedby a known method such as a strap-down method from the acceleration andthe angular velocity detected by the inertia sensor. In addition,various known methods capable of estimating the own position and postureof the object can be used as a method of estimating the motion state ofthe upper body and each foot of the operator P.

Further, for example, a joint displacement sensor capable of detectingthe displacement of each of joints (the hip joint, the knee joint, andthe ankle joint) of each leg of the operator P may be attached to eachleg and the relative position posture of each foot with respect to theupper body of the operator P may be estimated by using a rigid linkmodel of each leg from the displacement detected value of the joint ofeach leg. Then, the actual operator foot position posture may beestimated from the observed value of the relative position posture ofeach foot of the operator and the observed value of the actual positionposture (the actual operator upper body position posture) of the upperbody of the operator P estimated by an appropriate method such as amotion capture method.

Further, the operator motion detector 78 can be configured to estimatethe actual operator upper body inclination and the actual operator footposition posture viewed in the master side global coordinate system Cmset in the operation environment of the master device 51 similarly tothe case of the first embodiment.

The master device 51 further includes the master control unit 141 whichhas a function of executing the operation control of the master device51 or a function of outputting (transmitting) the command informationrelated to the operation of the slave device 1 to the slave control unit131 and a communication device 142 which performs a radio communicationwith the slave control unit 131. These are mounted at arbitraryappropriate positions on the master device 51 such as the base 53.

The master control unit 141 is configured as, for example, an electroniccircuit unit including a microcomputer, a memory, an interface circuit,and the like. The observation data which is detected or estimated byeach of the upper body force detector 64, each motor rotation detector56, the slide displacement detector 67, the operator motion detector 78,the base tilting detector 59, the mount displacement detector 76, andthe foot force detector 74 is input to the master control unit 141 andthe observed value of the actual slave floor shape and the observedvalue of the actual slave upper body lateral position are input from theslave control unit 131 thereto via the communication device 142.Additionally, each observation data input to the master control unit 141may be filtering values subjected to a filtering process such as alow-pass filter.

Then, the master control unit 141 includes a master movement controlunit 141 a which controls the motion of the base 3, the upper bodysupport portion 65, and each foot mount 70 via the electric motors 55 aand 55 b of each movement drive mechanism 55, the slide actuator 66, themount actuator 75, and the base tilting actuator 58 and a target upperbody support portion motion determination unit 141 b which determinesthe target upper body support portion motion corresponding to the targetmotion of the upper body support portion 65 as a function realized byboth or one of the implemented hardware configuration and program(software configuration).

Here, in this embodiment, the target upper body support portion motionwhich is determined by the target upper body support portion motiondetermination unit 141 b includes the target upper body support portionposition which is the target position of the upper body support portion65 and the target upper body support portion direction which is thetarget direction of the upper body support portion 65. The target upperbody support portion position and the target upper body support portiondirection are the target motion with respect to the virtual floor(viewed in the virtual floor coordinate system Cvir) described in thefirst embodiment.

Further, the master control unit 141 has a function of transmitting theobserved values of the virtual operator upper body posture (directionand inclination) which is the posture of the upper body of the operatorP with respect to the virtual floor, the virtual upper body supportportion height which is the height (the up-down direction position) ofthe upper body support portion 65 with respect to the virtual floor (orthe virtual operator upper body height which is the height (the up-downdirection position)) of the upper body of the operator P with respect tothe virtual floor, the virtual operator foot position posture which isthe position posture of each foot of the operator P with respect to thevirtual floor, and the actual operator foot grounding reaction force ofeach foot of the operator P to the slave control unit 131 via thecommunication device 142 as the command information for the operation ofthe slave device 1.

Supplementally, in this embodiment, both the master control unit 141 andthe slave control unit 131 correspond to the control device of thedisclosure. Further, the target upper body support portion motiondetermination unit 141 b, the slave operation target determination unit131 a, and the composite compliance operation determination unit 131 bcorrespond to the operation target determination unit of the disclosure,the joint control unit 132 corresponds to the slave side control unit ofthe disclosure, and the master movement control unit 141 a correspondsto the master side control unit of the disclosure.

[Control Process and Operation]

Next, the specific control processes of the slave control unit 131 andthe master control unit 141 and the operations of the slave device 101and the master device 51 will be described.

[Control Process of Master Control Unit]

First, a control process of the master control unit 141 will bedescribed. The master control unit 141 sequentially executes a controlprocess shown in the flowchart of FIG. 24 in a predetermined controlprocess cycle. In STEP 31, the master control unit 141 determines thetarget upper body support portion motion (the target upper body supportportion position and the target upper body support portion direction) bythe target upper body support portion motion determination unit 141 b.

In this case, the target upper body support portion motion determinationunit 141 b acquires (receives) the observed value of the actual slaveupper body lateral position viewed in the slave side global coordinatesystem Cs from the slave control unit 131 of the slave device 101 viathe communication device 142. Then, the target upper body supportportion motion determination unit 141 b determines the target upper bodysupport portion lateral position which is the lateral position in thetarget upper body support portion position in response to the observedvalue of the actual slave upper body lateral position acquired from theslave control unit 131 so that the actual slave upper body lateralposition and the virtual upper body support portion lateral position asthe lateral position of the upper body support portion 65 according tothe virtual motion of the upper body support portion 65 in the virtualfloor coordinate system Cvir satisfy a predetermined relationshiprepresented by the following formulas (61a) and (61b) (so that thepredetermined relationship becomes a target corresponding relationship).

P_mb_x_vir=Kpmb*P_sb_x_act+Cpmb_x   (61a)

P_mb_y_vir=Kpmb*P_sb_y_act+Cpmb_y   (61b)

Here, Kpmb, Cpmb_x, and Cpmb_y of the formulas (61a) and (61b) areconstants of predetermined values. Additionally, Cpmb_x and Cpmb_y maybe respectively zero.

Further, P_mb_x_act and P_mb_y_act are respectively the Xvir-axisdirection position and the Yvir-axis direction position in the virtualupper body support portion lateral position viewed in the virtual floorcoordinate system Cvir and P_sb_x_act and P_sby_act are respectively theXs-axis direction position and the Ys-axis direction position in theactual slave upper body lateral position viewed in the slave side globalcoordinate system Cgs.

Thus, the target upper body support portion motion determination unit141 b determines the target upper body support portion lateral position(P_mb_x_aim, P_mb_y_aim) by the following formulas (62a) and (62b) fromthe observed value of the current actual slave upper body lateralposition (P_sb_x_act, P_sb_y_act) acquired from the slave control unit131.

P_mb_x_aim=Kpmb*P_sb_x_act+Cpmb_x   (62a)

P_mb_y_aim=Kpmb*P_sb_y_act+Cpmb_y   (62b)

Here, P_mb_x_aim and P_mb_y_aim are respectively the Xvir-axis directionposition and the Yvir-axis direction position in the target upper bodysupport portion lateral position viewed in the virtual floor coordinatesystem Cvir.

Additionally, in this embodiment, for convenience of description, it isassumed that the Xvir-axis direction (or the Yvir-axis direction) of thevirtual floor coordinate system Cvir and the Xs-axis direction (or theYs-axis direction) of the slave side global coordinate system Cs areinitially set so that the direction in the yaw direction of theXvir-axis direction (or the Yvir-axis direction) of the virtual floorcoordinate system Cvir with respect to the front-rear direction of themaster device 51 and the direction in the yaw direction of the Xs-axisdirection (or the Ys-axis direction) of the slave side global coordinatesystem Cs with respect to the front-rear direction of the slave device101 are the same direction at the time of starting the manipulation ofthe movement of the slave device 101 by the master device 51. Forexample, it is set so that the Xvir-axis direction of the virtual floorcoordinate system Cvir matches the front-rear direction of the masterdevice 51 and the X-axis direction of the slave side global coordinatesystem Cs matches the front-rear direction of the slave device 101.

However, the direction in the yaw direction of the Xvir-axis direction(or the Yvir-axis direction) of the virtual floor coordinate system Cvirwith respect to the front-rear direction of the master device 51 and thedirection in the yaw direction of the Xs-axis direction (or the Ys-axisdirection) of the slave side global coordinate system Cs with respect tothe front-rear direction of the slave device 101 may be different fromeach other at the time of starting the manipulation of the movement ofthe slave device 101 by the master device 51. In this case, thecoordinate of the observed value of the actual slave upper body lateralposition viewed in the slave side global coordinate system Cgs may beconverted into the lateral position viewed in the virtual floorcoordinate system Cvir based on these directions.

Supplementally, the lateral position obtained by the calculation on theright sides of the above formulas (62a) and (62b) may be determined asthe target operator upper body lateral position which is the targetlateral position (the target lateral position viewed in the virtualfloor coordinate system Cvir) of the upper body of the operator P andthe target upper body support portion lateral position may be determinedin response to the target lateral position.

In this case, a process of determining the target upper body supportportion lateral position by the above formulas (62a) and (62b) can be,in other words, a process of determining the target operator upper bodylateral position by the calculation on the right sides of the formulas(62a) and (62b) and directly determining the target operator upper bodylateral position as the target upper body support portion lateralposition.

On the other hand an elastic member such as a pad is interposed betweenthe upper body support portion 65 and the upper body of the operator Pis elastically deformed by a force acting between the upper body supportportion 65 and the upper body of the operator P and the lateral positionof the upper body support portion 65 and the lateral position of theupper body of the operator P are relatively displaced by the elasticdeformation.

Here, in consideration of this, the target upper body support portionlateral position may be determined by correcting the target operatorupper body lateral position determined by the calculation on the rightsides of the above formulas (62a) and (62b) in response to thetranslational force in the lateral direction (the translational force inthe Xvir-axis direction and the Yvir-axis direction) in the actual upperbody support portion reaction force detected by the upper body forcedetector 64.

Specifically, for example, the target upper body support portion lateralposition (P_mb_x_aim, P_mb_y_aim) may be determined by the followingformulas (62a-1) and (62b-1).

P_mb_x_aim =P_opb_x_aim+kspring_fx*F_mb_x_act=(Kpmb*P_sb_x_act+Cpmb_x)+kspring_fx*F_mb_x_act   (62a-1)

P_mb_y_aim =P_opb_y_aim+kspring_fy*F_mb_y_act=(Kpmb*P_sb_y_act+Cpmb_y)+kspring fy*F_mb_y_act   (62b-1)

Here, P_opb_x_aim and P_opb_y_aim are respectively the Xvir-axisdirection position and the Yvir-axis direction position in the targetlateral position of the upper body of the operator P, F_mb_x_act andF_mb_y_act are respectively the translational force in the Xvir-axisdirection and the translational force in the Yvir-axis direction in theactual upper body support portion reaction force detected by the upperbody force detector 64, kspring fx is a value set in advance as thereciprocal of the spring constant (rigidity) related to thetranslational force in the Xvir-axis direction generated between theupper body of the operator P and the upper body support portion 65, andkspring_fy is a value set in advance as the reciprocal of the springconstant (rigidity) related to the translational force in the Yvir-axisdirection generated between the upper body of the operator P and theupper body support portion 65.

Further, in this embodiment, the target upper body support portionmotion determination unit 141 b acquires the observed value of theactual upper body support portion up-down direction reaction forceF_mb_z_act which is the translational force in the up-down direction(the Zvir-axis direction) in the actual upper body support portionreaction force detected by the upper body force detector 64 and theobserved value of the actual upper body support portion yaw directionmoment M_mb_z_act which is the moment in the yaw direction (thedirection around the Zvir axis) in the actual upper body support portionreaction force.

Then, the target upper body support portion motion determination unit141 b determines the target upper body support portion height P_mb_z_aimwhich is the position (the height from the floor surface) in the up-downdirection in the target upper body support portion position using theobserved value of the actual upper body support portion up-downdirection reaction force F_mb_z_act and determines the target upper bodysupport portion direction θ_mb_z_aim using the observed value of theactual upper body support portion yaw direction moment M_mb_z_act.

More specifically, in the process of determining the target upper bodysupport portion height P_mb_z_aim, the target upper body support portionmotion determination unit 141 b determines the target upper body supportportion height P_mb_z_aim so that the actual upper body support portionup-down direction reaction force F_mb_z_act satisfies the relationshipof the following formula (63) (so that F_mb_z_act converges to Cz).

F_mb_z_act−Cz=0   (63)

Here, Cz is a target value (a predetermined value) of an upwardtranslational force applied from the upper body support portion 65 tothe operator P to reduce the load of the leg of the operator P. Thetarget value Cz can be set to, for example, a predetermined ratio ofgravity applied to the operator P. However, the target value Cz may bezero.

Specifically, the target upper body support portion motion determinationunit 141 b determines the target translation velocity V_mb_z_aim in theup-down direction of the upper body support portion 65 so that thedeviation between the observed value of the actual upper body supportportion up-down direction reaction force F_mb_z_act and the target valuethereof (=Cz) (a value on the left side of the formula (3)) converges tozero by a feedback control law (for example, a P law, a PD law, a PIDlaw, or the like) in response to the deviation.

Then, the target upper body support portion motion determination unit141 b determines the target upper body support portion height P_mb_z_aimby integrating the determined target translation velocity V_mb_z_aim.Accordingly, the target upper body support portion height P_mb_z_aim isdetermined so that the actual upper body support portion up-downdirection reaction force F_mb_z_act converges to the target value (=Cz).

Further, in the process of determining the target upper body supportportion direction θ_mb_z_act, the target upper body support portionmotion determination unit 141 b determines the target upper body supportportion direction θ_mb_z_act so that the actual upper body supportportion yaw direction moment M_mb_z_act converges to zero.

In this case, the target upper body support portion motion determinationunit 81 b determines the target angular velocity ω_mb_z_aim in the yawdirection of the upper body support portion 65 in response to theobserved value of the actual upper body support portion yaw directionmoment M_mb_z_act so that the actual upper body support portion yawdirection moment M_mb_z_act converges to zero by a feedback control law(for example, a P law, a PD law, a PID law, or the like).

Then, the target upper body support portion motion determination unit141 b determines the target upper body support portion directionθ_mb_z_aim by integrating the determined target angular velocityω_mb_z_aim. Accordingly, the target upper body support portion directionθ_mb_z_aim is determined so that the actual upper body support portionyaw direction moment M_mb_z_act converges to zero.

In STEP 31, the target upper body support portion position ↑P_mb_aim(P_mb_x_aim, P_mb_y_aim, P_mb_z_aim) and the target upper body supportportion direction θ_mb_z_aim are determined as the target upper bodysupport portion motion viewed in the virtual floor coordinate systemCvir as described above.

Supplementally, a method of determining the target upper body supportportion direction θ_mb_z_aim in the target upper body support portionmotion is not limited to the above-described method. For example, anactual operator upper body direction which is an actual direction of theupper body of the operator P (a direction viewed in the master sideglobal coordinate system Cgm or the master upper body coordinate systemCmb) is estimated by a motion capture process using a cameraphotographing the operator P or an inertia sensor attached to the upperbody of the operator P and a result obtained by convering the coordinateof the estimated value of the actual operator upper body direction intothe direction viewed in the virtual floor coordinate system Cvir may bedetermined as the target upper body support portion directionθ_mb_z_aim. Additionally, in this case, the actual operator upper bodydirection may be estimated by the operator motion detector 78.

Further, a method of determining the target upper body support portionheight P_mb_z_aim is not limited to the above-described method. Forexample, the target upper body support portion height P_mb_z_aim may bedetermined based on the translational force in the up-down direction inthe grounding reaction force detected for each foot of the operator P bythe foot force detector 74 of the master device 51.

Specifically, the target upper body support portion motion determinationunit 141 b obtains the observed value of the resultant force(hereinafter, referred to as the operator total floor reaction force) ofthe grounding reaction force of each foot of the operator P based on thegrounding reaction force detected by the foot force detector 74.

Next, the target upper body support portion motion determination unit141 b determines the target upper body support portion height P_mb_z_aimso that the up-down direction translational force F_opf_total_z_act ofthe actual operator total floor reaction force satisfies therelationship of the following formula (63-1) (so that F_opf_total_z_actconverges to Ctotalfz).

F_opf_total_z_act−Ctotalfz=0   (63-1)

Here, Ctotalfz is a target value (a predetermined value) of the up-downdirection translational force component of the total floor reactionforce applied from the floor to the leg of the operator P. The targetvalue Ctotalfz can be set to, for example, a predetermined ratio ofgravity applied to the operator P.

Specifically, the target upper body support portion motion determinationunit 141 b determines the target translation velocity V_mb_z_aim in theup-down direction of the upper body support portion 65 so that thedeviation between the observed value of the up-down directiontranslational force F_opf_total_z_act of the actual operator total floorreaction force and the target value thereof (=Ctotalfz) (a value on theleft side of the formula (3-1)) converges to zero by a feedback controllaw (for example, a P law, a PD law, a PID law, or the like) in responseto the deviation.

Then, the target upper body support portion motion determination unit141 b determines the target upper body support portion height P_mb_z_aimby integrating the determined target translation velocity V_mb_z_aim.Accordingly, the target upper body support portion height P_mb_z_aim isdetermined so that the up-down direction translational forceF_opf_total_z_act of the actual operator total floor reaction forceconverges to the target value thereof (=Ctotalfz).

Next, the master control unit 141 executes processes of STEP 32 to STEP38 by the master movement control unit 141 a. In STEP 32, the mastermovement control unit 141 a determines the virtual upper body supportportion motion and the correction target upper body support portionmotion. Here, similarly to the case of the first embodiment, the virtualupper body support portion motion means the motion of the upper bodysupport portion 65 virtually realized with respect to the virtual flooron the assumption that the motion of the upper body support portion 65on the virtual floor follows the target upper body support portionmotion determined by the target upper body support portion motiondetermination unit 141 b.

Further, similarly to the case of the first embodiment, the correctiontarget upper body support portion motion means the target motion forcorrecting the target upper body support portion motion so that theposition (the position of the master reference point Qm) of the masterdevice 51 viewed in the master side global coordinate system Cm issuppressed from deviating from a predetermined reference position andthe direction (the posture angle in the yaw direction) of the upper bodysupport portion 65 is suppressed from deviating from a predeterminedreference direction.

In this embodiment, the virtual upper body support portion motionobtained in STEP 32 includes the virtual upper body support portionposition ↑P_mb_vir which is the position of the upper body supportportion 65 and the virtual upper body support portion directionθ_mb_z_vir which is the direction (the posture angle in the yawdirection) of the upper body support portion 65. In this case, thevirtual upper body support portion direction θ_mb_z_vir is determined tomatch the target upper body support portion direction θ_mb_z_aim.Additionally, in STEP 32, the virtual upper body support angularvelocity ω_mb_z_vir which is the angular velocity in the yaw directionobtained by first-order differentiation of the target upper body supportportion direction may be obtained as the component of the virtual upperbody support portion motion.

Alternatively, in STEP 32, the virtual upper body support angularvelocity ω_mb_z_vir and the virtual upper body support portion directionθ_mb_z_vir may be obtained by executing the same process as that of theprocessing unit 92 a of FIG. 13 described in the first embodiment fromthe angular acceleration (the target upper body support portion angularacceleration β_mb_z_aim) obtained by second-order differentiation of thetarget upper body support portion direction θ_mb_z_aim.

Further, the virtual upper body support portion position ↑P_mb_vir inthe virtual upper body support portion motion is determined to match thetarget upper body support portion position ↑P_mb_vir. Additionally, inSTEP 32, the virtual upper body support portion translational velocity↑V_mb_vir which is the translational velocity obtained by first-orderdifferentiation of the target upper body support portion position↑P_mb_aim may be obtained as the component of the virtual upper bodysupport portion motion.

Alternatively, in STEP 32, the virtual upper body support portiontranslational velocity ↑V_mb_vir and the virtual upper body supportportion position ↑Pmb_vir may be obtained by executing the same processas that of the processing unit 92 c of FIG. 14 described in the firstembodiment from the translational acceleration (the target upper bodysupport portion translational acceleration ↑Acc_mb_aim) obtained bysecond-order differentiation of the target upper body support portionposition ↑P_mb_aim.

Further, in this embodiment, the correction target upper body supportportion motion obtained in STEP 32 includes the correction target upperbody support portion position ↑P_mb_mdfd_aim which is the targetposition of the upper body support portion 65 and the correction targetupper body support portion direction θ_mb_z_mdfd_aim which is the targetdirection (the target posture angle in the yaw direction) of the upperbody support portion 65.

In this case, in the process of obtaining the correction target upperbody support portion direction θ_mb_z_mdfd_aim, for example, thecorrection target upper body support portion direction θ_mb_z_mdfd_aim(=θ_mb_z_mdfd shown in FIG. 13) is obtained by executing the process ofthe processing unit 92 b of FIG. 13 described in the first embodiment(specifically, the process of obtaining the correction posture angleθ_mb_z_mdfd) using the target upper body support portion angularacceleration β_mb_z_aim which is the angular acceleration in the yawdirection obtained by second-order differentiation of the target upperbody support portion direction θ_mb_z_aim. Additionally, in this case,the correction target upper body support angular velocityω_mb_z_mdfd_aim (=ω_mb_z_mdfd shown in FIG. 13) in the yaw direction isalso obtained.

Further, in the process of obtaining the correction target upper bodysupport portion position ↑P_mb_mdfd_aim in the correction target upperbody support portion motion, for example, the correction target upperbody support portion position ↑P_mb mdfd_aim is obtained by executingthe process of the processing unit 92 d of FIG. 14 described in thefirst embodiment using the target upper body support portiontranslational acceleration ↑Acc_mb_aim which is the translationalacceleration obtained by second-order differentiation of the targetupper body support portion position ↑P_mb_aim. Additionally, in thiscase, the correction target upper body support portion translationalvelocity ↑V_mb mdfd_aim is also obtained.

Next, the master movement control unit 141 a executes processes of STEP33 to STEP 37. The processes of STEP 33 to STEP 37 are executed in thesame manner as those of STEP 22 to STEP 26 of the first embodiment.

Next, in STEP 38, the master movement control unit 141 a obtains thevirtual operator upper body inclination which is the posture angle(direction and inclination) of the upper body of the operator P in themotion of the operator P on the virtual floor and the virtual operatorfoot position posture which is the position posture (position andposture angle) of each of the left and right feet of the operator P.

In this case, in the process of obtaining the virtual operator upperbody inclination in the virtual operator upper body posture angle, themaster movement control unit 141 a acquires the actual operator upperbody inclination (the inclination viewed in the master upper bodycoordinate system Cmb) detected by the operator motion detector 78.Then, the master movement control unit 141 a obtains the virtualoperator upper body inclination by converting the coordinate of theacquired actual operator upper body inclination into the inclinationviewed in the virtual floor coordinate system Cvir using the virtualupper body support portion direction obtained in STEP 32 (or the targetupper body support portion direction obtained in STEP 31) and thevirtual upper body support portion position obtained in STEP 32 (or thetarget upper body support portion position obtained in STEP 31).

Further, in the process of obtaining the virtual operator upper bodydirection in the virtual operator upper body posture angle, the mastermovement control unit 141 a obtains the virtual operator upper bodydirection θ_opb_z_vir by the following formula (65), for example, fromthe virtual upper body support portion direction θ_mb_z_vir obtained inSTEP 32 and the moment M_mb_z_act (the actual upper body support portionyaw direction moment) in the yaw direction in the actual upper bodysupport portion reaction force detected by the upper body force detector64.

θ_opb_z_vir=θ_mb_z_vir−kspring_mz*M_mb_z_act (65)

Here, kspring_mz is a value set in advance as the reciprocal of thespring constant (rigidity) related to the rotating force in the yawdirection generated between the upper body of the operator P and theupper body support portion 65. Supplementally, a method of estimatingthe virtual operator upper body direction is not limited to theabove-described method and other methods may be used. For example, thevirtual operator upper body direction may be obtained by estimating theactual operator upper body direction by a motion capture process usingan inertia sensor attached to the upper body of the operator P or thelike or a camera photographing the operator P and converting thecoordinate of the actual operator upper body direction into thedirection viewed in the virtual floor coordinate system Cvir.Additionally, the actual operator upper body direction may be estimatedby the operator motion detector 78.

Alternatively, for example, the virtual operator upper body directioncan be also obtained by detecting the relative displacement (therelative rotation angle) in the yaw direction of the upper body of theoperator P with respect to the upper body support portion 65 using anappropriate displacement sensor provided in the upper body supportportion 65 or the like and adding the observed value of the relativedisplacement to the virtual upper body support portion directionθ_mb_z_vir.

Alternatively, for example, the virtual operator upper body directioncan be also obtained by using a distance measurement device capable ofmeasuring a distance to a plurality of positions of the upper body ofthe operator P, estimating the actual operator upper body directionbased on the observed value of the distance obtained by the distancemeasurement device, and converting the coordinate of the actual operatorupper body direction into the direction viewed in the virtual floorcoordinate system Cvir.

Further, in the process of obtaining the virtual operator foot positionposture, the master movement control unit 141 a acquires the actualoperator foot position posture (the position posture viewed in themaster upper body coordinate system Cmb) detected by the operator motiondetector 78 and obtains the virtual operator foot position posture byconverting the coordinate of the actual operator foot position postureinto the position posture viewed in the virtual floor coordinate systemCvir using the virtual upper body support portion direction obtained inSTEP 32 (or the target upper body support portion direction obtained inSTEP 31) and the virtual upper body support portion position obtained inSTEP 32 (or the target upper body support portion position obtained inSTEP 31).

The master control unit 141 executes a process of the master movementcontrol unit 141 a as described above and then transmits commandinformation related to the operation of the slave device 101 to theslave control unit 31 in next STEP 39. Specifically, the master controlunit 141 transmits the virtual operator upper body posture (directionand inclination) and the virtual operator foot position posture obtainedin STEP 38, the virtual upper body support portion height in the virtualupper body support portion motion obtained in STEP 32, and the actualoperator foot grounding reaction force detected by the foot forcedetector 74 for each of the left and right feet of the operator P to theslave control unit 131 as the components of the command information.

In this case, each of the virtual operator upper body posture, thevirtual operator foot position posture, and the virtual upper bodysupport portion height in each command information output from themaster control unit 141 to the slave control unit 131 is a statequantity viewed in the virtual floor coordinate system Cvir.

Regarding the actual operator foot grounding reaction force, the mastercontrol unit 141 converts the coordinate of the observed value of thegrounding reaction force viewed in the sensor coordinate system set foreach foot force detector 74 into the actual operator foot groundingreaction force viewed in the virtual floor coordinate system Cvir usingthe actual mount displacement detected by the mount displacement 76, thevirtual upper body support portion direction obtained in STEP 32 (or thetarget upper body support portion direction obtained in STEP 31), andthe virtual upper body support portion position obtained in STEP 32 (orthe target upper body support portion position obtained in STEP 31) andoutputs the actual operator foot grounding reaction force to the slavecontrol unit 131.

Additionally, each command information output (transmitted) from themaster control unit 141 to the slave control unit 131 may be filteringvalues subjected to a filtering process such as a low-pass filter.

In this embodiment, the control process of the master control unit 141is executed as described above.

[Control Process of Slave Control Unit]

Next, a control process of the slave control unit 131 will be described.The slave control unit 131 sequentially executes a process of each ofthe above-described function units in a predetermined control processcycle. Additionally, in the description below, the actual value or thetarget value of the state quantity related to the slave device 1 arereferred to as “actual” or “target” and “slave” may be appropriatelyadded between the names of the state quantity.

[Process of Slave Operation Target Determination Unit]

First, a process of the slave operation target determination unit 131 aof the slave control unit 131 will be described. As shown in FIG. 21,the observed values of the virtual operator upper body posture(direction and inclination), the virtual upper body support portionheight (or the virtual operator upper body height), the virtual operatorfoot position posture, and the actual operator foot floor reaction forcereceived from the master control unit 141 via the communication device133 are sequentially input to the slave operation target determinationunit 131 a and the observed values of the actual slave upper bodylateral position estimated as described below by the upper body lateralposition estimation unit 131 d are sequentially input thereto.

Then, the slave operation target determination unit 131 a executes aprocess shown in the flowchart of FIG. 25 in a predetermined controlprocess cycle. In STEP 41, the slave operation target determination unit131 a determines the target slave foot position posture of each of theleft and right feet 106L and 106R of the slave device 101 in response tothe virtual operator foot position posture of each of the left and rightfeet of the operator P received from the master control unit 141 so thatthe virtual operator foot position posture (the virtual operator footposition posture viewed in the virtual floor coordinate system Cvir) ofeach of the left and right feet of the operator P and the actual slavefoot position posture (the actual slave foot position posture viewed inthe slave side global coordinate system Cs) of each of the left andright feet 106L and 106R of the slave device 101 satisfy a predeterminedrelationship represented by the following formulas (71 a) to (71 d).

That is, the slave operation target determination unit 131 a determinesthe target slave foot position posture of each of the left and rightfeet 106L and 106R of the slave device 101 by the following formulas(71a-1) to (71d-1) from the virtual operator foot position posture ofeach of the left and right feet of the operator P.

↑P_sf_act_L=Kpsf*↑P_opf_vir_L+↑Cpsf   (71a)

↑P_sf_act_R=Kpsf*↑P_opf_vir_R+↑Cpsf   (71b)

↑θ_sf_act_L=↑θ_opf_vir_L   (71c)

↑θ_sf_act_R=↑θ_opf_vir_R   (71d)

↑P_sf_aim_L=Kpsf*↑P_opf_vir_L+↑Cpsf   (71a-1)

↑P_sf_aim_R=Kpsf*↑P_opf_vir_R+↑Cpsf   (71b- 1 )

↑θ_sf_aim_L=↑θ_opf_vir_L   (71c-1)

↑θ_sf_aim_R=↑θ_opf_vir_R   (71d-1)

Here, ↑P_sf_act_L and ↑P_sf_act_R are respectively the actual positions(the actual slave foot positions) of the left and right feet 106L and106R of the slave device 101, ↑θ_sf_act_L and ↑θ_sf_act_R arerespectively the actual postures (the actual slave foot postures) of theleft and right feet 106L and 106R of the slave device 101, and↑P_sf_aim_L and ↑P_sf_aim_R are respectively the target positions (thetarget slave foot positions) of the left and right feet 106L and 106R ofthe slave device 101.

Further, ↑θ_sf_act_L and Cu_sf_act_R are respectively the actualpostures (the actual slave foot postures) of the left and right feet106L and 106R of the slave device 101 and Tθ_sf_aim_L and ↑θ_sf_aim_Rare respectively the target postures (the target slave foot postures) ofthe left and right feet 106L and 106R of the slave device 101.

Further, ↑P_opf_vir_L and ↑P_opf_vir_R are respectively the virtualoperator foot positions on the left and right sides of the operator Pand ↑θ_opf_act_L and ↑θ_opf_act_R are respectively the virtual operatorfoot postures on the left and right sides of the operator P.

Further, Kpsf is a coefficient of a predetermined value (scalar ordiagonal matrix) and ↑Cpsf is a constant vector having a component of apredetermined value. ↑Cpsf may be a zero vector. Additionally, apredetermined relationship between each of ↑θ_sf_aim_L and ↑θ_sf_aim_Rand each of ↑θ_opf_act_L and ↑θ_opf_act_R may be, for example, arelationship represented by a linear function of the same form as theformula (71 a) or formula (71b).

Next, in STEP 42, the slave operation target determination unit 131 adetermines the target slave foot position posture of each of the leftand right feet 106L and 106R of the slave device 101 in response to theactual operator foot grounding reaction force (the observed value) ofeach of the left and right feet of the operator P received from themaster control unit 141 so that the actual operator foot groundingreaction force (the actual operator foot grounding reaction force viewedin the virtual floor coordinate system Cvir) of each of the left andright feet of the operator P and the actual slave foot floor reactionforce (the actual slave foot reaction force viewed in the slave sideglobal coordinate system Cs) of each of the left and right feet 6L and6R of the slave device 1 satisfy a predetermined relationshiprepresented by the following formulas (72a) to (72d).

That is, the slave operation target determination unit 131 a determinesthe target slave foot floor reaction force of each of the left and rightfeet 106L and 106R of the slave device 101 by the following formulas(72a-1) to (72d-1) from the observed value of the actual operator footgrounding reaction force of each of the left and right feet of theoperator P.

↑F_sf_act_L=mtotal_ratio*↑F_opf_act_L   (72a)

↑F_sf_act_R=mtotal_ratio*↑F_opf_act_R   (72b)

↑M_sf_act_L=mtotal_ratio*↑F_opf_act_R   (72c)

↑F_sf_act_L=mtotal_ratio*↑F_opf_act_R   (72d)

↑F_sf_aim_L=mtotal_ratio*↑F_opf_act_L   (72a-1)

↑F_sf_aim_R=mtotal_ratio*↑F_opf_act_R   (72b-1)

↑M_sf_aim_L=mtotal_ratio*↑F_opf_act_R   (72c-1)

↑F_sf_aim_L=mtotal_ratio*↑F_opf_act_R   (72d-1)

Here, ↑F_sf_act_L and ↑F_sf_act_R are respectively the translationalforces (the actual slave foot translational forces) in the actual slavefoot floor reaction forces of the left and right feet 106L and 106R ofthe slave device 101 and ↑F_sf_aim_L and ↑F_sf_aim_R are respectivelythe translational forces (the target slave foot translational forces) inthe target slave foot floor reaction forces of the left and right feet106L and 106R of the slave device 101.

Further, ↑M_sf_act_L and ↑M_sf_act_R are respectively the moments (theactual slave foot moments) in the actual slave foot floor reactionforces of the left and right feet 106L and 106R of the slave device 101and M_sf_aim_L and ↑M_sf_aim_R are respectively the moments (the targetslave foot moments) in the target slave foot floor reaction forces ofthe left and right feet 106L and 106R of the slave device 101.

Further, ↑F_opf_act_L and ↑F_opf_act_R are respectively thetranslational forces (the actual operator foot translational forces) inthe actual operator foot floor reaction force of each of the left andright feet of the operator P and ↑M_opf_act_L and ↑M_opf_act_R arerespectively the moments (the actual operator foot moments) in theactual operator foot floor reaction forces on the left and right sidesof the operator P.

Further, mtotal ratio is a mass ratio (=total slave mass/total operatormass) between the total slave mass which is the total mass of the slavedevice 101 and the total operator mass which is the total mass of theoperator P.

Next, in each of STEP 43 to STEP 45, the slave operation targetdetermination unit 131 a determines each of the target slave foot floorreaction force center point, the target slave total floor reactionforce, and the target slave total floor reaction force center point inthe target slave floor reaction force.

Specifically, in STEP 43, the slave operation target determination unit131 a obtains the lateral position of the target slave foot floorreaction force center point of each of the left and right feet 106L and106R of the slave device 101 from the target slave foot floor reactionforce (↑F_sf_aim_L, ↑F_sf_aim_R, ↑M_sf_aim_L, ↑M_sf_aim_R) determined inSTEP 42. In this case, the floor reaction force center point (COP) ofeach foot 106 is a point in which the moment around the axis in thelateral direction (the Xs-axis direction and the Ys-axis direction ofthe slave side global coordinate system Cs) becomes zero. Thus, thelateral position of the target slave foot floor reaction force centerpoint of each of the left and right feet 106L and 106R is calculated bythe following formulas (73a) to (73d).

COP_sf_x_aim_L=M_sf_y_aim_L/F_sf_z_aim_L   (73a)

COP_sf_x_aim_R=M_sf_y_aim_R/F_sf_z_aim_R   (73 b)

COP_sf_y_aim_L=−M_sf_x_aim_L/F_sf_z_aim_L   (73c)

COP_sf_y_aim_R=−M_sf_x_aim_R/F_sf_z_aim_R   (73d)

Here, COP_sf_x_aim_L and COP_sf_x_aim_R are respectively the targetpositions in the Xs-axis direction of the target slave foot floorreaction force center points of the left and right feet 106L and 106R ofthe slave device 101 and COP_sf_y_aim_L and COP_sf_y_aim_R arerespectively the target positions in the Ys-axis direction of the targetslave foot floor reaction force center points of the left and right feet106L and 106R of the slave device 101.

Further, Msf_y_aim_L and Msf_y_aim_R are respectively the components inthe direction around the Ys axis of the target slave foot moments↑M_sf_aim_L and ↑M_sf_aim_R of the left and right feet 106L and 106R ofthe slave device 101, Msf_x_aim_L and Msf_x_aim_R are respectively thecomponents in the direction around the Xs axis of the target slave footmoments ↑M_sf_aim_L and ↑M_sf_aim_R of the left and right feet 106L and106R of the slave device 101, and F_sf_z_aim_L and F_sf_z_aim_R arerespectively the components in the Zs-axis direction (the up-downdirection) of the target slave foot translational forces ↑F_sf_aim_L and↑F_sf_aim_R of the left and right feet 106L and 106R of the slave device101.

In STEP 44, the slave operation target determination unit 131 a obtainsthe target slave total floor reaction force (the translational force↑F_sf_total_aim and the moment ↑M_sf_total_aim) by the followingformulas (74 a) and (74b) from the target slave foot floor reactionforce (↑F_sf_aim_L, ↑F_sf_aim_R, ↑M_sf_aim_L, ↑M_sf_aim_R) determined inSTEP 42. That is, the slave operation target determination unit 131 aobtains the resultant force of the target slave foot floor reactionforces of the left and right feet 106L and 106R as the target slavetotal floor reaction force. Additionally, ↑F_sf_total_aim and↑M_sf_total_aim are respectively the target slave total floor reactionforce translational force and the moment.

↑F_sf_total_aim=↑F_sf_aim_L+↑F_sf_aim_R   (74 a)

↑M_sf_total_aim=↑M_sf_aim_L+↑M_sf_aim_R   (74b)

In STEP 45, the slave operation target determination unit 131 a obtainsthe lateral position of the target slave total floor reaction forcecenter point by the following formulas (75a) and (75b) which are thesame formulas as the formulas (73a) to (73d) used in STEP 43 from thetarget slave total floor reaction force (↑F_sf_total_aim,↑M_sf_total_aim) obtained from STEP 44. Additionally, COP_sf_total_x_aimand COP_sf_total_y_aim are respectively the Xs-axis direction positionand the Ys-axis direction position of the target slave total floorreaction force center point.

COP_sf_total_x_aim=M_sf_total_y_aim/F_sf_total_z_aim   (75a)

COP_sf_total_y_aim=−M_sf_total_x_aim_L/F_sf_total_z_aim   (75b)

Next, in STEP 46, the slave operation target determination unit 131 adetermines the target slave upper body posture in response to thevirtual operator upper body posture (the virtual operator upper bodydirection and the virtual operator upper body inclination) received fromthe master control unit 141 so that the virtual operator upper bodyposture (direction and inclination) viewed in the virtual floorcoordinate system Cvir and the actual slave upper body posture(direction and inclination) viewed in the slave side global coordinatesystem Cs satisfy a predetermined relationship represented by, forexample, the following formula (76).

That is, the slave operation target determination unit 131 a determinesthe target slave upper body posture, for example, by the followingformula (76-1) from the virtual operator upper body posture.

↑θ_sb_act=↑θ_opb_vir (76)

↑θ_sb_aim=↑θ_opb_vir (76-1)

Here, ↑θ_sb_act is the actual slave upper body posture, ↑θ_sb_aim is thetarget slave upper body posture, and ↑θ_opb_vir is the virtual operatorupper body posture. Additionally, a predetermined relationship between↑θ_sb_act and ↑θ_opb_vir may be, for example, a relationship representedby a linear function of the same form as the above formula (71 a) or(71b).

Next, in STEP 47, the slave operation target determination unit 131 adetermines the height (the target slave upper body height) in the targetslave upper body position in response to the virtual upper body supportportion height received from the master control unit 141 so that thevirtual upper body support portion height of the master device 51 (theup-down direction position of the upper body support portion 65) viewedin the virtual floor coordinate system Cvir and the actual slave stateheight (the up-down direction position of the upper body 102 of theslave device 101) viewed in the slave side global coordinate system Cssatisfy a predetermined relationship represented by, for example, thefollowing formula (77).

That is, the slave operation target determination unit 131 a determinesthe target slave upper body height from the virtual upper body supportportion height by the following formula (77-1).

P_sb_z_act=Kpsb_z*P_mb_z_act+Cpsb_z   (77)

P_sb_z_aim=Kpsb_z*P_mb_z_act+Cpsb_z   (77-1)

Here, P_sb_z_act is the actual slave upper body height, P_sb_z_aim isthe target slave upper body height, P_mb_z_vir is the virtual upper bodysupport portion height, and Kpsb_z and Cpsb_z are constants ofpredetermined values. Additionally, Cpsb_z may be zero.

Supplementally, when the master control unit 141 is configured to obtainthe virtual operator upper body height P_opb_z_vir from the actualoperator upper body height (the actual height of the upper body of theoperator P), the target slave upper body height P_sb_z_aim may bedetermined in response to P_opb_z_vir so that the virtual operator upperbody height P_opb_z_vir and the actual slave upper body heightP_sb_z_act satisfy, for example, a relationship in which P_mb_z_vir ofthe above formula (77) is replaced with P_opb_z_vir. That is, the targetslave upper body height P_sb_z_aim may be determined by a formula inwhich P_mb_z_vir of the formula (77-1) is replaced with P_opb_z_vir.

Next, in STEP 48, the slave operation target determination unit 131 adetermines an updated value of the actual slave upper body lateralposition estimated as described below by the upper body lateral positionestimation unit 131 d as the target slave upper body lateral positionwhich is the lateral position of the target slave upper body position.That is, the slave operation target determination unit 131 a determinesthe target slave upper body lateral position by the following formulas(78a) and (78b) from the observed value (updated value) of the actualslave upper body lateral position.

P_sb_x_aim=P_sb_x_act   (78a)

P_sb_y_aim=P_sb_y_act   (78b)

Here, P_sb_x_aim is the Xs-axis direction position in the target slaveupper body lateral position, P_sb_y_aim is the Ys-axis directionposition in the target slave upper body lateral position, P_sb_x_act isthe Xs-axis direction position in the actual slave upper body lateralposition, and P_sb_y_act is the Ys-axis direction position in the actualslave upper body lateral position.

The process of the slave operation target determination unit 131 a isexecuted as described above. Thus, in this embodiment, the target slavefoot position posture of each of the left and right feet 106L and 106Rof the slave device 101 is determined in response to the virtualoperator foot position posture to aim at a constant linear relationshiprepresented by the above formulas (71 a) to (71 d).

Further, the target slave upper body posture and the target slave upperbody height are respectively determined in response to the virtualoperator upper body posture and the virtual upper body support portionheight (or the virtual operator upper body height) to aim at a constantlinear relationship represented by the above formulas (76) and (77).

On the other hand regarding the target slave upper body lateralposition, the actual slave upper body lateral position is directlydetermined as the target slave upper body lateral position regardless ofthe lateral position of the upper body of the operator P or the upperbody support portion 65.

Further, the target slave foot floor reaction force (the translationalforce and the moment) of each of the left and right feet 106L and 106Rin the target slave floor reaction force is determined to beproportional to the actual operator foot grounding reaction force ofeach of the left and right feet of the operator P at a mass ratiobetween the slave device 101 and the operator P (=total slave mass/totaloperator mass). Then, the target slave foot floor reaction force centerpoint, the target slave total floor reaction force, and the target slavetotal floor reaction force center point are determined to satisfy apredetermined necessary relationship with the target slave foot floorreaction force of each of the feet 106L and 106R.

Thus, the target slave upper body motion, the target slave leg motion,and the target slave floor reaction force other than the target slaveupper body lateral position are respectively determined to change in thesame pattern as the actual motion of the upper body of the operator Pand the actual motion of each foot of the operator P with respect to thevirtual floor and the actual grounding reaction force applied to eachfoot of the operator P.

Supplementally, in this embodiment, the target slave upper body heightP_sb_z_aim is determined in response to the observed value of thevirtual upper body support portion height P_mb_z_vir (or the virtualoperator upper body height P_opb_z_vir). However, the target slave upperbody height P_sb_z_aim may be set to a predetermined value regardlessof, for example, the virtual upper body support portion heightP_mb_z_vir (or the virtual operator upper body height P_opb_z_vir). Inthis case, the observed value of the virtual upper body support portionheight P_mb_z_virt (or the virtual operator upper body heightP_opb_z_vir) does not need to be output (transmitted) from the mastercontrol unit 141 to the slave control unit 131.

Although the description in the flowchart of FIG. 25 is omitted, sincethe slave device 101 includes the arm 110 and the head portion 117 whichare movable with respect to the upper body 102 in this embodiment, theslave operation target determination unit 131 a also determines thetarget motion of each arm 110 and the head portion 117. In this case,the target motion of each arm 110 and the head portion 117 can bedetermined, for example, so that the hand portion 113 of each arm 110and the head portion 117 are maintained in the uniform position posturewith respect to the upper body 102 at the time of moving the slavedevice 101 by the manipulation of the operator P.

However, for example, the target motion of each arm 110 may bedetermined so that each arm 110 is made to perform a motion such asswinging back and forth with respect to the upper body 102 insynchronization with the motion of the leg 103. Further, the targetmotion of the head portion 117 may be determined so that the headportion 117 appropriately moves with respect to the upper body 102.Further, for example, the actual motion of each arm or the head of theoperator P (the motion with respect to the upper body of the operator P)may be estimated by the same detector as the operator motion detector 78and the target motion of the head portion 117 or each arm 110 of theslave device 101 (the target motion with respect to the upper body 102)may be determined as the same motion as the actual motion of each arm orthe head of the operator P.

[Process of Upper Body Lateral Position Estimation Unit]

Next, a process of the upper body lateral position estimation unit 131 dwill be described. As shown in FIG. 21, the actual upper bodyinclination which is detected by the upper body posture detector 123,the inclination (the target upper body inclination) in the target slaveupper body position posture which is determined by the slave operationtarget determination unit 131 a, and the lateral position (the targetupper body lateral position) are sequentially input to the upper bodylateral position estimation unit 131 d. Then, the upper body lateralposition estimation unit 131 d estimates the actual slave upper bodylateral position by using these input values.

Here, the slave device 101 is basically operated to substantially followthe target slave upper body position posture and the target slave footposition posture determined by the slave operation target determinationunit 131 a. However, the inclination of the actual posture of the upperbody 102 may deviate from the target slave upper body inclination due tothe unevenness state of the floor surface, the correction of the targetslave foot position posture, or the like even by the compliance controlto be described later. Then, when the inclination of the upper body 102deviates, the actual lateral position of the upper body 102 deviatesfrom the target slave upper body lateral position.

Here, the upper body lateral position estimation unit 131 d estimatesthe actual slave upper body lateral position, for example, by thefollowing formulas (79a) and (79b).

P_sb_x_act=P_sb_x_aim+P_sb_z_act*sin(θ_sb_y_act−θ_sb_y_aim)   (79a)

P_sb_y_act=P_sb_y_aim−P_sb_z_act*sin(θ_sb_x_act−θ_sb_x_aim)   (79b)

Here, P_sb_x_act and P_sb_y_act are respectively the observed values ofthe Xs-axis direction position and the Ys-axis direction position in theactual slave upper body lateral position, P_sb_x_aim and P_sb_y_aim arerespectively the Xs-axis direction position and the Ys-axis directionposition in the target slave upper body lateral position, P_sb_z_act isthe actual slave upper body height, θ_sb_x_aim and θ_sb_y_aim arerespectively the inclination in the direction around the Xs axis and theinclination in the direction around the Ys axis in the target slaveupper body inclination, and θ_sb_x_act and θ_sb_y_act are respectivelythe observed values of the inclination in the direction around the Xsaxis and the inclination in the direction around the Ys axis in theactual slave upper body inclination.

In this case, the target values which are determined by the slaveoperation target determination unit 131 a in the control process cyclebefore the current control process of the upper body lateral positionestimation unit 131 d are used as the values of the target slave upperbody lateral positions P_sb_x_aim and P_sb_y_aim. Further, the estimatedvalue of the upper body posture detector 123 is used as the values ofthe actual slave upper body inclinations θ_sb_x_act and θ_sb_y_act.

Further, for example, an estimated value which is estimated bykinematics calculation from the actual joint displacement detected valueof each joint of one of the grounded legs 103 in the left and right legs103L and 103R of the slave device 101 is used as the value of the actualslave upper body height P_sb_z_act. Additionally, when both legs 103Land 103R are grounded, for example, the height of the upper body 102 isestimated by kinematics calculation for each of the legs 103L and 103Rand an average value of the estimated values for each of the legs 103Land 103R may be used as the value of the actual slave upper body heightP_sb_z_act. Alternatively, for example, the target slave upper bodyheight P_sb_z_aim determined by the slave operation target determinationunit 131 a may be used instead of the actual slave upper body heightP_sb_z_act.

Additionally, when an absolute value of the deviation(=θ_sb_y_act−θ_sb_y_aim) in the direction around the Ys axis or thedeviation (=θ_sb_x_act−θ_sb_x_aim) in the direction around the Xs axisbetween the target slave upper body inclination and the actual slaveupper body inclination is sufficiently small, the right side of theformula (79a) or the formula (79b) may be calculated by using anapproximate relationship that sin (θ_sb_y_act−θ_sb_y_aim)θ_sb_y_act−θ_sb_y_aim or sin (θ_sb_x_act−θ_sb_x_aim)θ_sb_x_act−θ_sb_x_aim.

Supplementally, a method of estimating the actual slave upper bodylateral position is not limited to the above-described method. Forexample, the actual slave upper body lateral position can be estimatedby integration (second-order integration) of the lateral translationalacceleration detected by the acceleration sensor 123 a of the upper bodyposture detector 123.

Further, the actual slave upper body lateral position can be estimated,for example, by a process of fusing the estimation method based on theabove formulas (79a) and (79b) and the estimation method using theacceleration sensor 123 a by a Kalman filter. In addition, the actualslave upper body lateral position can be estimated by various knownmethods capable of estimating the own position of the object.

[Process of Composite Compliance Operation Determination Unit]

Next, a process of the composite compliance operation determination unit131 b will be described. As shown in FIG. 21, the target slave legmotion (the target slave foot position posture) determined by the slaveoperation target determination unit 131 a and the target slave floorreaction force (the target slave foot floor reaction force, the targetslave foot floor reaction force center point, the target slave totalfloor reaction force, the target slave total floor reaction force centerpoint) are sequentially input to the composite compliance operationdetermination unit 131 b. Then, the composite compliance operationdetermination unit 131 b determines the correction target slave legmotion (the correction target slave foot position posture) by correctingthe target slave foot position posture by a compliance control processusing these input values.

Generally, the process of the composite compliance operationdetermination unit 131 b (compliance control process) is a process ofcorrecting the target slave foot position posture in the entire targetmotion of the slave device 101 so that a necessary state quantity (atranslational force in a predetermined direction, a moment in thedirection around a predetermined axis, a position of a floor reactionforce center point of each foot 106, a position of a total floorreaction force center point, and the like) related to an actual slavefloor reaction force corresponding to a floor reaction force actuallyapplied to the slave device 101 approaches a necessary target valuedefined by the target slave floor reaction force determined by the slaveoperation target determination unit 131 a in order to prevent anexcessive floor reaction force from being applied to each foot 106 orprevent the entire posture of the slave device 101 from collapsing dueto an unexpected unevenness or obstacle on the floor surface where theslave device 101 moves.

In this embodiment, as a process of such a composite complianceoperation determination unit 131 b, for example, a known control processdescribed in Paragraphs 0123 to 0207 of Japanese Patent ApplicationLaid-Open No. H10-277969 is executed. For this reason, a detaileddescription of the process of the composite compliance operationdetermination unit 131b in the present specification will be omitted.However, in the process of the composite compliance operationdetermination unit 131 b of this embodiment, the “compensation totalfloor reaction force moment Mdmd” described in Japanese PatentApplication Laid-Open No. H10-277969 is set to zero.

In the process of such a composite compliance operation determinationunit 131 b, the target slave foot position posture of each foot 106 (thetarget slave foot position posture determined by the slave operationtarget determination unit 131 a) is corrected so that the moment (themoment in the direction around the Xs axis and the direction around theYs axis) of the actual floor reaction force generated around the targetslave total floor reaction force center point approaches zero by acomposite operation of an operation of rotating both feet 106L and 106Rof the slave device 101 in the direction around the Xs axis and thedirection around the Ys axis by using the target slave total floorreaction force center point (in other words, the target ZMP) as a centerand an operation of moving each of the feet 106L and 106R in atranslational manner in the opposite directions in the direction aroundthe Xs axis and the direction around the Ys axis by using the targetslave total floor reaction force center point as a center. Accordingly,the correction target slave foot position posture of each foot 106 isdetermined.

In this case, the correction amount of the target slave foot positionposture is determined by using the observed value of the actual slavefoot floor reaction force detected by the floor reaction force detector125 and the target slave floor reaction force (the target slave footfloor reaction force, the target slave foot floor reaction force centerpoint, the target slave total floor reaction force, and the target slavetotal floor reaction force center point) determined by the slaveoperation target determination unit 131 a.

[Process of Joint Displacement Determination Unit]

Next, a process of the joint displacement determination unit 131 c willbe described. As shown in FIG. 21, the target slave upper body motion(the target slave upper body position posture) determined by the slaveoperation target determination unit 131 a and the correction targetslave leg motion (the correction target slave foot position posture)determined by the composite compliance operation determination unit 131b are sequentially input to the joint displacement determination unit131 c. Then, the joint displacement determination unit 131 c determinesthe target joint displacement of each joint of each leg 103 of the slavedevice 101 by inverse kinematics calculation from the target slave upperbody position posture and the target slave foot position posture of eachfoot 106.

Further, although not shown in FIG. 21, in this embodiment, the targetmotion of the head portion 117 and the target motion of each arm 110 ofthe slave device 101 determined by the slave operation targetdetermination unit 131 a are further input to the joint displacementdetermination unit 131 c. Then, the joint displacement determinationunit 131 c determines the target joint displacement of each joint ofeach arm 110 in response to the target motion of each arm 110 anddetermines the target joint displacement of each joint of the neck jointmechanism 118 in response to the target motion of the head portion 117.

In this case, when the target motion of each arm 110 is, for example,the target position posture of the hand portion 113 of each arm 110 (therelative target position posture with respect to the upper body 102),the target joint displacement of each joint of each arm 110 can bedetermined by an inverse kinematics calculation process. Further, whenthe target motion of each arm 110 is configured by, for example, thetarget joint displacement of each joint of each arm 110, the targetjoint displacement is directly determined as the target jointdisplacement of each joint. The same applies to the head portion 117.

The control process of each function unit of the slave control unit 131is executed as described above. Then, the slave control unit 131 outputsthe target joint displacement of each joint determined by the jointdisplacement determination unit 131 c to the joint control unit 132.

Further, the slave control unit 131 outputs (transmits) the actual slaveupper body lateral position estimated by the upper body lateral positionestimation unit 131 d to the master control unit 141 via thecommunication device 133.

Additionally, in this embodiment, since the target slave upper bodylateral position is determined to match the actual slave upper bodylateral position, the target slave upper body lateral position may beoutput to the master control unit 141 instead of outputting(transmitting) the observed value of the actual slave upper body lateralposition to the master control unit 141.

Additionally, in this embodiment, a process in which the target upperbody support portion motion determination unit 141 b determines thetarget upper body support portion motion in STEP 31 corresponds to the Aprocess of the disclosure and all of this process and the controlprocess of the master movement control unit 141 a include processescorresponding to the A process, the C process, the D process, and the Eprocess of the disclosure. Further, the control process of the slavecontrol unit 131 corresponds to the B process of the disclosure.

[Operation and Effect]

According to the manipulation system of this embodiment described above,as described in the first embodiment with reference to FIG. 17, theoperator P can perform the walking operation on the virtual floorsurface as if walking on the actual floor while smoothly grounding thefoot on the free leg side to the corresponding foot mount 70.

Further, as described in the first embodiment with reference to FIG. 16,the lateral position of the upper body support portion 65 (or thelateral position of the master base 53) can be suppressed from deviatingfrom the reference position (the lateral reference position) and themaster device 51 can be moved to stay in the movable range AR_lim evenwhen the operator P performs the continuous walking operation.

Further, since the operation of the master device 51 is controlled sothat the up-down direction position of the upper body support portion 65also does not deviate from the up-down direction reference position, theoperator P can perform the walking operation as if going up and down astaircase or a slope so that the up-down direction position of the upperbody support portion 65 does not greatly change from the up-downdirection reference position even when a difference between the up-downdirection positions of the foot mounts 70L and 70R in the target footmounts is set so that the virtual floor becomes a staircase or a slopein response to the slave floor shape.

Further, as described in the first embodiment with reference to FIG. 18,since all of the master base 53, the upper body support portion 65, andthe foot mounts 70L and 70R are tilted in response to the upper bodysupport portion acceleration correction amount (the feedback correctionamount) ↑Acc_mb_fb, the operator P can perform the walking operation asif the upper body support portion acceleration correction amount↑Acc_mb_fb is not added.

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 26, since each of the footmounts 70L and 70R is tilted in response to the inclination of the slavefloor below the foot 106 of the corresponding slave device 101, theoperator P can perform the walking operation in a suitable manner whilesensibly recognizing the inclination of the slave floor surface belowthe foot 106 for each foot 106 of the slave device 1.

Thus, the operator P can perform the walking operation on the masterdevice 51 in the same manner as on the actual floor with the virtualfloor having a shape conforming to the floor shape of the slave floor.Further, the slave device 101 can be easily moved in a desired manner onthe slave floor.

Further, in this embodiment, the target upper body support portionlateral position is determined so that the actual upper body supportportion lateral position (or the actual operator upper body lateralposition) and the actual slave upper body lateral position satisfy arelationship represented by the above (61a) and (61b) (or a relationshiprepresented by a formula in which the left side of the above (61a) and(61b) is replaced with the virtual operator lateral position). Further,in the process of the slave operation target determination unit 131 a ofthe slave control unit 131, the target slave upper body lateral positionis determined to match the observed value of the actual slave upper bodylateral position regardless of the lateral position of the upper bodysupport portion 65 or the upper body of the operator P.

For this reason, when the posture of the slave device 1 is collapsed,the target upper body support portion lateral position is determined inresponse to the actual slave upper body lateral position in thecollapsed posture. Further, the upper body of the operator P receives alateral translational force (a translational force that tries tocollapse the posture of the operator P in the same manner as the slavedevice 1) in response to the collapse of the posture of the slave device1 from the upper body support portion 65. For example, when the slavedevice 1 collapses the posture in the forward leaning direction, atranslational force is applied from the upper body support portion 65 tothe upper body of the operator P in the forward direction.

Accordingly, the operator P can appropriately, quickly, and sensiblyrecognize the collapsed posture of the slave device 1 or the posturecollapsing direction in the slave device 1.

Third Embodiment

Next, a third embodiment of the disclosure will be described withreference to FIGS. 27 to 30. Additionally, this embodiment is differentfrom the second embodiment only in the control process of a part of themaster control unit 141 and the slave control unit 131. For this reason,in the description of this embodiment, the description of the same partsas those of the second embodiment will be omitted.

First, referring to FIG. 27, in this embodiment, the master control unit141 receives the target slave upper body lateral position in the targetupper body motion of the upper body 102 of the slave device 101determined by the slave control unit 131 via the communication device142 instead of the actual slave upper body lateral position.Additionally, the target slave upper body position posture is determinedby a process (to be described later in detail) different from that ofthe second embodiment.

Then, in this embodiment, a target upper body support portion motiondetermination unit 141 b 2 of the master control unit 141 determines thetarget upper body support portion lateral position in the target upperbody support portion motion in response to the target slave upper bodylateral position received from the slave control unit 131. Specifically,the target upper body support portion motion determination unit 141 b 2determines the target upper body support portion lateral position sothat the target upper body support portion lateral position satisfiesthe relationship of the above formulas (71 a) and (71b) with respect tothe target slave upper body lateral position. That is, the target upperbody support portion motion determination unit 141 b 2 determines thetarget upper body support portion lateral position (P_mb_x_aim,P_mb_y_aim) by the following formulas (71a-2) and (71b-2).

P_mb_x_aim=Kpmb*P_sb_x_aim+Cpmb_x   (71a-2)

P_mb_y_aim=Kpmb*P_sb_y_aim+Cpmb_y   (71b-2)

In this embodiment, the control process of the master control unit 141is the same as the second embodiment except for the above-describedparts.

Next, referring to FIG. 28, in this embodiment, the slave control unit131 includes a slave operation target determination unit 131 a 2 whichdetermines the operation target (the target slave upper body motion, thetarget slave leg motion, and the target slave floor reaction force) ofthe slave device 101 by a process (a process using the dynamics model ofthe slave device 101) different from the slave operation targetdetermination unit 131 a of the second embodiment, a virtual externalforce determination unit 131 f which determines a virtual external forcevirtually applied to the slave device 101 on the dynamics model used inthe slave operation target determination unit 131 a 2, a compensationfloor reaction force determination unit 131 h which determines a floorreaction force additionally applied to the slave device 101, acalculation unit 131 g which calculates an input to the virtual externalforce determination unit 131 f and the compensation floor reaction forcedetermination unit 131 h, and the composite compliance operationdetermination unit 131 b and the joint displacement determination unit131 c which are described in the first embodiment.

Then, in this embodiment, the slave control unit 131 transmits thetarget slave upper body lateral position in the target slave upper bodymotion determined by the slave operation target determination unit 131 a2 to the master control unit 141 via the communication device 133instead of the estimated value of the actual slave upper body lateralposition. For this reason, in the slave control unit 131 of thisembodiment, the upper body lateral position estimation unit 131 ddescribed in the first embodiment is omitted.

The processes of the calculation unit 131 g, the virtual external forcedetermination unit 131 f, the slave operation target determination unit131 a 2, and the compensation floor reaction force determination unit131 h will be described in detail below. These processes are executed asbelow in a predetermined control process cycle. The actual slave upperbody inclination estimated by the upper body posture detector 123 andthe target slave upper body inclination in the target slave upper bodymotion determined by the slave operation target determination unit 131 a2 are input to the calculation unit 131 g. Then, the calculation unit131 g calculates an upper body inclination deviation which is adeviation between the actual slave upper body inclination and the targetslave upper body inclination (=actual slave upper bodyinclination−target slave upper body inclination). The upper bodyinclination deviation includes an inclination deviation in the directionaround the Xs axis and an inclination deviation in the direction aroundthe Ys axis in the slave side global coordinate system Cs.

The upper body inclination deviation which is calculated by thecalculation unit 131 g is input to the virtual external forcedetermination unit 131 f. Then, the virtual external force determinationunit 131 f determines the virtual external force so that the upper bodyinclination deviation converges to zero by known feedback control laws(for example, a P law, a PD law, a PID law, and the like) from the inputupper body inclination deviation.

Here, in this embodiment, the virtual external force is, for example, amoment generated around a target slave total floor reaction force centerin the direction around the axis in the lateral direction (the directionaround the Xs axis and the direction around the Ys axis) and ishereinafter referred to as a virtual external force moment. Then, acomponent in the direction around the Xs axis and a component in thedirection around the Ys axis of the virtual external force moment arerespectively determined by a feedback control law from a component inthe direction around the Xs axis and a component in the direction aroundthe Ys axis of the upper body inclination deviation.

Similarly to the second embodiment, the command information (theobserved values of the virtual operator upper body posture (directionand inclination), the virtual upper body support portion height (or thevirtual operator upper body height), the virtual operator foot positionposture, and the actual operator foot floor reaction force) received bythe slave control unit 131 from the master control unit 141 is input tothe slave operation target determination unit 131 a 2. Further, in thisembodiment, the virtual external force moment determined by the virtualexternal force determination unit 131 f is input to the slave operationtarget determination unit 131 a 2 instead of the actual slave upper bodylateral position.

Then, the slave operation target determination unit 131 a 2 executes aprocess shown in the flowchart of FIG. 29 in a predetermined controlprocess cycle. In this case, the slave operation target determinationunit 131 a 2 executes the same process as that of the slave operationtarget determination unit 131 a of the second embodiment in STEP 41 toSTEP 47. Accordingly, the target slave upper body motion, the targetslave leg motion, and the target slave floor reaction force other thanthe target slave upper body lateral position are determined.

Next, in STEP 48 a, the slave operation target determination unit 131 a2 determines the target slave upper body lateral position to generatethe virtual external force moment determined by the virtual externalforce determination unit 131 f around the target slave total floorreaction force center point (target ZMP) on the dynamics model of theslave device 101.

As the dynamics model of the slave device 101, for example, a dynamicsmodel described in Paragraphs 0128 to 0134 and FIG. 10 of JapanesePatent No. 4246638, a dynamics model described in, for example,Paragraphs 0163 to 0168 and FIG. 12 of Japanese Patent No. 4126061, or adynamics model equivalent thereto can be used. FIG. 30 schematicallyshows a dynamics model as an example used in this embodiment.Additionally, the dynamics model is the same as that described inJapanese Patent No. 4246638.

This dynamics model includes an upper body mass point Q1 which is a masspoint moving in a translational manner in response to the translationalmotion of the upper body 102 of the slave device 101, a leg mass pointQ2 which is a mass point moving in a translational manner in response tothe translational motion of the foot 106 of each leg 103, a flywheel FH1which rotates in the roll direction in response to the tilting motion ofthe upper body 102 in the roll direction (the direction around the axisin the front-rear direction) of the slave device 101, and a flywheel FH2which rotates in the pitch direction in response to the tilting motionof the upper body 102 in the pitch direction (the direction around theaxis in the left-right direction) of the slave device 101.

The mass is defined in advance for the upper body mass point Q1 and eachleg mass point Q2 and the inertia is defined for the flywheels FH1 andFH2. In this case, the mass of the upper body mass point Q1 and themasses of two leg mass points Q2 and Q2 are set so that the total massthereof matches the total mass of the slave device 101. Further, theposition of the upper body mass point Q1 is defined in response to theposition (or the position and posture) of the upper body 102 and theposition of each leg mass point Q2 is defined in response to theposition (or the position and posture) of the foot 106 of each leg 103.Additionally, the flywheels FH1 and FH2 do not have a mass.

The dynamics of the slave device 101 in this dynamics model isrepresented by a formula expressing a relationship that the totalresultant force (translational force) of the gravity acting on each ofthe upper body mass point Q1 and each leg mass point Q2 and the inertiaforce (translational inertia force) generated in response to thetranslational acceleration of each of the upper body mass point Q1 andeach leg mass point Q2 is balanced with the translational force in thetotal floor reaction force acting on the slave device 101 and a formulaexpressing a relationship that the total moment generated around anarbitrary_action point (for example, the target slave total floorreaction force center point or the like) due to the resultant force andthe inertia force moment generated in response to the rotational angularacceleration of each of the flywheels FH1 and FH2 is balanced with themoment generated around the action point due to the total floor reactionforce acting on the slave device 101.

In this case, the process of STEP 48 a can be executed, for example, asbelow. Additionally, in the description herein, for convenience ofdescription, the direction in the Xs-axis direction of the slave sideglobal coordinate system Cs is appropriately updated, for example, sothat the Xs-axis direction is the same direction or substantially thesame direction as the front-rear direction of the slave device 101 (thedirection around the Xs axis and the direction around the Ys axis of theslave side global coordinate system Cs are respectively the rolldirection and the pitch direction of the slave device 101 as shown inFIG. 30). However, the coordinate can be appropriately converted betweenthe slave side global coordinate system Cs and the coordinate system inwhich the coordinate-axis direction is aligned to the front-reardirection of the slave device 101.

Based on the time series of the target slave upper body inclination, therotational angular acceleration of each of the flywheels FH1 and FH2 ofthe dynamics model is calculated and the upper body inclinationcorresponding moment which is the inertia moment (the inertia moment inthe direction around the Xs axis and the direction around the Ys axis)generated by the flywheels FH1 and FH2 in response to the rotationalangular acceleration is calculated.

Further, the translational acceleration of each leg mass point Q2 of thedynamics model is calculated based on the time series of the targetslave foot position posture of each foot 106 of the slave device 101 andthe leg motion corresponding moment which is the moment generated aroundthe target slave total floor reaction force center point due to theresultant force of the gravity acting on each leg mass point Q2 and theinertia force generated at each leg mass point Q2 in response to thetranslational acceleration is calculated.

Further, the translational acceleration in the up-down direction (theZs-axis direction) of the upper body mass point Q1 of the dynamics modelis calculated based on the time series of the target slave upper bodyheight. Additionally, the translational acceleration in the up-downdirection of the upper body mass point Q1 may be calculated, forexample, so that the resultant force of the inertia force in the up-downdirection generated at the upper body mass point Q1 in response to thetranslational acceleration, the inertia force in the up-down directiongenerated at each leg mass point Q2 in response to the translationalacceleration in the up-down direction of each leg mass point Q2 andcalculated from the time series of the target slave foot positionposture, and the gravity acting on the entire center of gravity of theslave device 101 is balanced with the translational force in the up-downdirection of the target slave total floor reaction force.

Then, the lateral translational acceleration of the upper body masspoint Q1 is calculated so that the components in the direction aroundthe Xs axis and the direction around the Ys axis in the resultant forcemoment of the leg motion corresponding moment, the upper bodyinclination corresponding moment, and the upper body motioncorresponding moment which is the moment generated around the targetslave total floor reaction force center point due to the resultant forceof the gravity acting on the upper body mass point Q1, the inertia forcegenerated in response to the translational acceleration in the up-downdirection of the upper body mass point Q1, and the lateral translationalacceleration of the upper body mass point on the assumption that thelateral translational acceleration of the upper body mass point Q1 is aunknown number matches the virtual external force moment determined bythe virtual external force determination unit 131 f.

Then, the lateral position of the upper body mass point is determined byintegration (second-order integration) of the lateral translationalacceleration of the upper body mass point Q1 and the target slave upperbody lateral position is determined from the lateral position of theupper body mass point Q1.

In STEP 48 a, the target slave upper body lateral position is determinedby the above-described process so that the virtual external force momentdetermined by the virtual external force determination unit 131 f isgenerated around the target slave total floor reaction force centerpoint (target ZMP) (specifically, the moment generated around the targetslave total floor reaction force center point (target ZMP) due to theresultant force of the inertia force generated by the motion of theslave device 1 and the gravity acting on the slave device 101 matchesthe virtual external force moment) on the dynamics model. As a result,the target slave upper body lateral position is determined to approachthe actual slave upper body lateral position.

Next, in this embodiment, the compensation floor reaction forcedetermination unit 131 h is a processing unit which determines a floorreaction force to be additionally applied to the slave device 101 toreduce a deviation generated when the actual slave upper bodyinclination estimated by the upper body posture detector 123 deviatesfrom the target slave upper body inclination determined by the slaveoperation target determination unit 131 a 2.

In this embodiment, the floor reaction force to be additionally appliedto the slave device 101 is a moment generated around the target totalfloor reaction force center point (target ZMP) in the direction aroundthe axis in the lateral direction (the direction around the Xs axis andthe direction around the Ys axis). Here, even in this embodiment, thefloor reaction force determined by the compensation floor reaction forcedetermination unit 131 h is referred to as a compensation total floorreaction force moment.

The upper body inclination deviation calculated by the calculation unit131 g is input to the compensation floor reaction force determinationunit 131 h of this embodiment as the deviation amount of the actualslave upper body inclination with respect to the target slave upper bodyinclination determined by the slave operation target determination unit131 a 2. Then, the compensation floor reaction force determination unit131 h determines the compensation total floor reaction force moment (thecompensation total floor reaction force moment in the direction aroundthe Xs axis and the direction around the Ys axis) so that the upper bodyinclination deviation converges to zero by feedback control laws such asa proportional/differential law (PD law) in response to the input upperbody inclination deviation.

Then, the compensation total floor reaction force moment determined bythe compensation floor reaction force determination unit 131 h is inputto the composite compliance operation determination unit 131 b. In thecomposite compliance operation determination unit 131 b, the targetslave foot position posture (the target slave foot position posturedetermined by the slave operation target determination unit 131 a 2) ofeach foot 106 is corrected so that the moment of the actual floorreaction force generated around the target slave total floor reactionforce center point (the moment in the direction around the Xs axis andthe direction around the Ys axis) approaches the compensation totalfloor reaction force moment.

This embodiment is the same as the second embodiment except for thematters described above. Supplementally, in this embodiment, both themaster control unit 141 and the slave control unit 131 correspond to thecontrol device of the disclosure. Further, the target upper body supportportion motion determination unit 141 b 2, the slave operation targetdetermination unit 131 a 2, and the composite compliance operationdetermination unit 131 b correspond to the operation targetdetermination unit of the disclosure, the joint control unit 132corresponds to the slave side control unit of the disclosure, and themaster movement control unit 141 a corresponds to the master sidecontrol unit of the disclosure.

Further, in this embodiment, a process in which the target upper bodysupport portion motion determination unit 141 b 2 determines the targetupper body support portion motion corresponds to the A1 process of thedisclosure and all of this process and the control process of the mastermovement control unit 141 a include processes corresponding to the Aprocess, the C process, the D process, and the E process of thedisclosure. Further, the control process of the slave control unit 131corresponds to the B process of the disclosure.

According to the above-described embodiment, it is possible to obtainthe same effect as that of the second embodiment.

Other Embodiments

The disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiments and canemploy still other embodiments. Hereinafter, some other embodiments willbe described. In the above-described embodiments, the tilt posture orthe up-down direction position of each foot mount 70 of the masterdevice 51 is changed in response to the slave floor shape, but when theslave floor is a flat surface or a floor surface substantiallyequivalent thereto, the foot mount 70 may be mounted on the base 53 soas not to change the tilt posture or the up-down direction position ofeach foot mount 70 or to prevent the tilt posture or the up-downdirection position from being changed.

Further, in the above-described embodiments, the posture angle(direction) in the yaw direction of the foot mount on the free leg side70 is changed in response to the direction in the yaw direction of thefoot of the operator P, but each foot mount 70 may be mounted on thebase 53 so as not to change the yaw direction or not to be rotatable inthe yaw direction. Then, in this case, each foot mount 70 may be formedin a disk shape or may be formed to have an area sufficiently wider thanthe bottom surface of the foot of the operator P so that the foot can beeasily grounded to the foot mount 70 regardless of the direction in theyaw direction of the foot of the operator P.

Further, in the above-described embodiments, a process of suppressingthe direction in the yaw direction of the upper body support portion 65(or the master base 53) from deviating from a predetermined referencedirection may be omitted or a process of changing the tilt posture ofthe master base 53 may be omitted. Further, when the slave floor is afloor in which a change in height is relatively small, a process ofsuppressing the up-down direction position of the upper body supportportion 65 from deviating from a predetermined up-down directionreference position may be omitted.

Further, in the first embodiment, the target upper body support portionmotion and the target slave upper body motion are determined by thebilateral control on the upper body side are determined, but the targetupper body support portion motion and the target slave upper body motionmay be determined by using, for example, a formula in which allcoefficients Ratio_fsb and Ratio_msb of the formulas (1a) and (1b) arezero. Further, for example, the target upper body support portion motionmay be determined in response to the observed value of the actual upperbody support portion reaction force and the target motion of the slavedevice 1 may be determined to satisfy a predetermined targetrelationship for the target upper body support portion motion.

Further, in the second embodiment and the third embodiment, a case isshown in which the lateral position of the upper body support portion 65or the lateral position of the upper body of the operator P is used asthe master side reference portion lateral position of the disclosure andthe lateral position of the upper body 102 of the slave device 1 isemployed as the slave side reference portion lateral position of thedisclosure.

However, for example, an operator gravity center lateral position whichis a lateral position of a center of gravity of the operator P may beemployed as a master side reference portion lateral position and a slavegravity center lateral position which is a lateral position of a centerof gravity of the slave device 101 may be employed as a slave sidereference portion lateral position. Then, the movement of the masterdevice 51 may be controlled in response to the observed value or thetarget value of the slave gravity center lateral position so that arelationship between the actual operator gravity center lateral positionand the actual slave gravity center lateral position satisfies, forexample, a relationship in the formulas (61a) and (61b).

In this case, for example, the actual slave gravity center lateralposition can be estimated by the position posture (the position postureviewed in the slave side global coordinate system Cs) for any part suchas the upper body 102 of the slave device 101 estimated by a knownmethod such as a motion capture method, the observed value of the actualjoint displacement of each joint of the slave device 101, and the rigidlink model of the slave device 101. Further, the target value of theslave gravity center lateral position can be calculated by using, forexample, the target motion of the entire slave device 1 including thetarget slave upper body motion and the target slave leg motion and therigid link model of the slave device 1.

Further, for example, the actual operator gravity center lateralposition can be estimated by using the observed values of the positionposture (the position posture viewed in the master side globalcoordinate system Cgm) for any part such as the upper body of theoperator P and the bending angle of each joint estimated by a knownmethod such as a motion capture method and can be estimated by using theobserved values of the estimated position posture and the estimatedbending angle and the rigid link model of the operator P. Additionally,the bending angle of each joint or a part of the joints of the operatorP may be detected by the displacement sensor or the inertia sensor (theacceleration sensor and the angular velocity sensor) attached to theoperator P.

Further, the moving body (slave device) of the disclosure is not limitedto an actual moving body and may be a virtual (imaginary) moving body.

According an embodiment, since the operations of the first actuator andthe second actuator are controlled so that the lateral position of thefoot mount on the free leg side follows the lateral position of the footon the free leg side of the manipulator and the upper body supportportion relatively moves in the lateral direction with respect to thefoot mount on the support leg side together with the base in accordancewith the movement of the upper body of the manipulator in the lateraldirection with respect to the foot mount on the support leg sidegrounding the foot on the support leg side of the manipulator when themanipulator wearing the upper body support portion moves each foot toperform the walking operation of intermittently grounding each foot tothe corresponding foot mount, the manipulator can perform the walkingoperation in the same manner as the normal walking operation.

In addition, since the operation of the first actuator is controlled tosuppress the lateral position of the base or upper body support portionin the movement environment of the base from deviating from thepredetermined lateral reference position, the base moves so that thelateral position of the base or the upper body support portion is nottoo far from the predetermined lateral reference position.

Then, the moving body (the slave device) is controlled to move inresponse to the movement of the upper body support portion with respectto the foot mount on the support leg side. Thus, according to anembodiment, the manipulator can smoothly perform the continuous walkingoperation so that the moving body can move in a wide range even when theenvironment (the movement environment of the base) for performing themanipulator's walking operation for moving the moving body is arelatively narrow environment.

In an embodiment, when the upper body support portion and the two footmounts are mounted on the base to be tiltable together with the base andthe master device further includes a third actuator capable ofgenerating a driving force for tilting the base, the control device canbe configured to further execute a C process. The C process determinesan additional translation acceleration which is a lateral translationacceleration to be added to the upper body support portion so that adeviation between a lateral position of the base or the upper bodysupport portion in the movement environment of the base and thepredetermined lateral reference position approaches zero in response tothe deviation when executing the A process, and the C process controlsan operation of the third actuator so that a combined acceleration withan acceleration component generated in the base tilted direction in theadditional translation acceleration and a gravity acceleration acting onthe manipulator becomes zero or approaches zero.

Accordingly, since the lateral position deviation approaches zero, it ispossible to prevent or suppress the manipulator from receiving areaction force from the upper body support portion in response to theadditional translation acceleration added to the motion of the upperbody support portion. Further, the manipulator can perform the walkingoperation without sensibly recognizing the generation of the additionaltranslation acceleration.

In an embodiment, when executing the A process, the control device canbe configured to execute the A process by a process including an A1process, an A2 process, an A3 process and an A4 process and an A5process. The A1 process generates a target upper body support portionmotion which is a target motion of the upper body support portion withrespect to a virtual floor formed in a pseudo manner by the foot mounton the support leg side so that the upper body support portion moveswith respect to the virtual floor together with the upper body of themanipulator. The A2 process is a process of determining a correctiontarget upper body support portion motion which is a target motion of theupper body support portion in the movement environment of the base bycorrecting the target upper body support portion motion and includes atleast a process of correcting the target upper body support portionmotion so that the lateral position deviation corresponding to thedeviation between the actual lateral position of the base or the upperbody support portion in the movement environment of the base and thepredetermined lateral reference position approaches zero in response toan observed value of the lateral position deviation. The A3 processcontrols the operation of the first actuator so that the base moves inresponse to the correction target upper body support portion motion. TheA4 process is a process of determining a target foot mount motion whichis a target motion of each of the two foot mounts with respect to thevirtual floor and determines the target foot mount motion so that thefoot mount on the support leg side stops with respect to the virtualfloor and a target lateral position of the foot mount on the free legside matches an actual lateral position of the foot on the free leg sideof the manipulator. The A5 process controls the operation of the secondactuator so that a relationship between an actual lateral position ofthe upper body support portion and an actual lateral position of each ofthe two foot bases matches a relationship defined by the target upperbody support portion motion and the target foot mount motion.

Accordingly, it is possible to preferably operate the first actuator andthe second actuator so that the lateral position of the foot mount onthe free leg side follows the lateral position of the foot on the freeleg side of the manipulator and the upper body support portionrelatively moves in the lateral direction with respect to the foot mounton the support leg side together with the base in accordance with themovement of the upper body of the manipulator in the lateral directionwith respect to the foot mount on the support leg side while suppressingthe lateral position of the base or the upper body support portion inthe movement environment of the base from deviating from thepredetermined lateral reference position.

Additionally, in an embodiment, a process of determining the additionaltranslation acceleration can be included in, for example, the A3process.

In an embodiment, when the first actuator is an actuator configured togenerate a driving force for allowing the base to move in a translationmanner and rotate in a yaw direction, the control device can beconfigured to execute a process of controlling the operations of thefirst actuator and the second actuator so that the upper body supportportion relatively rotates in the yaw direction with respect to the footmount on the support leg side together with the base while suppressing adirection in the yaw direction of the base or the upper body supportportion in the movement environment of the base from deviating from apredetermined reference direction in accordance with the rotation in theyaw direction of the upper body of the manipulator with respect to thefoot mount on the support leg side when executing the A process.

Additionally, the yaw direction means the direction around the axis inthe up-down direction (the vertical direction or the substantiallyvertical direction).

According to an embodiment, it is possible to prevent the direction inthe yaw direction of the base or the upper body support portion in themovement environment of the base from largely changing from thepredetermined reference direction even when the manipulator wearing theupper body support portion performs the walking operation to turn.Further, it is possible to smoothly perform the walking operation toturn the manipulator without any disturbance even when a change in thedirection in the yaw direction of the base in limited due to wiring orthe like connected to the master device. Further, it is possible tocontrol the operation of the slave device so that the slave device turnsin response to the turning operation of the manipulator.

In an embodiment, when executing the A process, the control device canbe configured to execute the A process by a process including an A1process, an A2 process, an A3 process and an A4 process and an A5process. The A1 process generates a target upper body support portionmotion which is a target motion of the upper body support portion withrespect to a virtual floor formed in a pseudo manner by the foot mounton the support leg side so that the upper body support portion moveswith respect to the virtual floor together with the upper body of themanipulator. The A2 process is a process of determining a correctiontarget upper body support portion motion which is a target motion of theupper body support portion in the movement environment of the base bycorrecting the target upper body support portion motion and includes atleast a process of correcting the target upper body support portionmotion so that the lateral position deviation corresponding to thedeviation between the actual lateral position of the base or the upperbody support portion in the movement environment of the base and thepredetermined lateral reference position and a yaw-direction directiondeviation corresponding to the deviation between an actual direction inthe yaw direction of the base or the upper body support portion in themovement environment of the base and the predetermined referencedirection approach zero in response to observed values of the lateralposition deviation and the yaw-direction direction deviation. The A3process controls the operation of the first actuator so that the basemoves in response to the correction target upper body support portionmotion. The A4 process is a process of determining a target foot mountmotion which is a target motion of each of the two foot mounts withrespect to the virtual floor and determines the target foot mount motionso that the foot mount on the support leg side stops with respect to thevirtual floor and a target lateral position of the foot mount on thefree leg side matches the actual lateral position of the foot on thefree leg side of the manipulator. The A5 process controls the operationof the second actuator so that a relationship between the actual lateralposition of the upper body support portion and the actual lateralposition of each of the two foot bases matches a relationship defined bythe target upper body support portion motion and the target foot mountmotion.

Accordingly, it is possible to preferably operate the first actuator andthe second actuator so that the lateral position of the foot mount onthe free leg side follows the lateral position of the foot on the freeleg side of the manipulator and the upper body support portionrelatively moves in the lateral direction with respect to the foot mounton the support leg side together with the base in accordance with themovement of the upper body of the manipulator in the lateral directionwith respect to the foot mount on the support leg side while suppressingthe lateral position of the base or the upper body support portion inthe movement environment of the base from deviating from thepredetermined lateral reference position and suppressing the directionin the yaw direction of the base or the upper body support portion inthe movement environment of the base from deviating from thepredetermined reference direction.

In an embodiment, each of the two foot mounts is further mounted on thebase to be rotatable in the yaw direction with respect to the base andthe second actuator can be configured to further generate a drivingforce for rotating each foot mount in the yaw direction with respect tothe base. In this case, the control device can be configured to furtherexecute a process of controlling the operation of the second actuator sothat a direction in the yaw direction of the foot mount on the free legside with respect to the foot mount on the support leg side follows adirection in the yaw direction of the foot on the free leg side of themanipulator with respect to the foot mount on the support leg side whenexecuting the A process.

Accordingly, when the manipulator wearing the upper body support portionappropriately changes the direction in the yaw direction of the foot onthe free leg side with respect to the foot mount on the support leg sidefor grounding the foot on the support leg side, the direction in the yawdirection of the foot mount on the free leg side changes in accordancewith the change. Thus, in any one of the right and left feet of themanipulator, the foot on the free leg side can be easily grounded to thefoot mount on the free leg side.

In an embodiment, wherein when executing the A process, the controldevice can be configured to execute the A process by a process includingan A1 process, an A2 process, an A3 process and an A4 process and an A5process. The A1 process generates a target upper body support portionmotion which is a target motion of the upper body support portion withrespect to a virtual floor formed in a pseudo manner by the foot mounton the support leg side so that the upper body support portion moveswith respect to the virtual floor together with the upper body of themanipulator. The A2 process is a process of determining a correctiontarget upper body support portion motion which is a target motion of theupper body support portion in the movement environment of the base bycorrecting the target upper body support portion motion and includes atleast a process of correcting the target upper body support portionmotion so that the lateral position deviation corresponding to thedeviation between the actual lateral position of the base or the upperbody support portion in the movement environment of the base and thepredetermined lateral reference position approaches zero in response toan observed value of the lateral position deviation. The A3 processcontrols the operation of the first actuator so that the base moves inresponse to the correction target upper body support portion motion. TheA4 process is a process of determining a target foot mount motion whichis a target motion of each of the two foot mounts with respect to thevirtual floor and determines the target foot mount motion so that thefoot mount on the support leg side stops with respect to the virtualfloor and a target lateral position and a target yaw-direction directionof the foot mount on the free leg side respectively match an actuallateral position and an actual yaw-direction direction of the foot onthe free leg side of the manipulator. The A5 process controls theoperation of the second actuator so that each of a relationship betweenthe actual lateral position of the upper body support portion and theactual lateral position of each of the two foot bases and a relationshipbetween the actual yaw-direction direction of the upper body supportportion and the actual yaw-direction direction of each of the two footbases matches a relationship defined by the target upper body supportportion motion and the target foot mount motion.

Accordingly, it is possible to preferably operate the first actuator andthe second actuator so that the lateral position of the foot mount onthe free leg side and the direction in the yaw direction thereofrespectively follow the lateral position of the foot on the free legside of the manipulator and the direction in the yaw direction thereofand the upper body support portion relatively moves in the lateraldirection with respect to the foot mount on the support leg sidetogether with the base in accordance with the movement of the upper bodyof the manipulator in the lateral direction with respect to the footmount on the support leg side while suppressing at least the lateralposition of the base or the upper body support portion in the movementenvironment of the base from deviating from the predetermined lateralreference position.

In an embodiment, each of the two foot mounts is further mounted on thebase to be tiltable with respect to the base and the second actuator canbe configured to further generate a driving force for tilting each ofthe two foot mounts with respect to the base. In this case, the controldevice can be configured to further execute a D process that controlsthe operation of the second actuator so that a tilt posture of each ofthe foot mounts changes in response to an actual floor surface shape ofa movement environment of a slave device.

Accordingly, the manipulator can sensibly and easily recognize the floorshape of the movement environment of the slave device by the tiltposture of the foot mount grounding the foot. Further, the walkingoperation can be performed in the master device in a manner that matchesthe floor shape of the movement environment of the slave device.

In an embodiment, when the slave device is a leg type moving body whichincludes an upper body and a pair of two left and right legs extendingfrom the upper body, the control device can be configured to control theoperation of the second actuator so that the tilt posture of the footmount corresponding to a left foot of the manipulator changes inresponse to a floor surface shape below a front end portion of a leftleg of the slave device and the tilt posture of the foot mountcorresponding to a right foot of the manipulator changes in response toa floor surface shape below a front end portion of a right leg of theslave device when executing the D process.

Accordingly, the manipulator can easily and sensibly recognize a localfloor shape (tilted state) below the front end portion of the leg foreach leg of the slave device by the tilt posture of the foot mount forgrounding the foot of the corresponding manipulator to the leg.

In an embodiment, when executing the A process, the control device canbe configured to execute the A process by a process including an A1process, an A2 process, an A3 process and an A4 process and an A5process. The A1 process generates a target upper body support portionmotion which is a target motion of the upper body support portion withrespect to a virtual floor formed in a pseudo manner by the foot mounton the support leg side so that the upper body support portion moveswith respect to the virtual floor together with the upper body of themanipulator. The A2 process is a process of determining a correctiontarget upper body support portion motion which is a target motion of theupper body support portion in the movement environment of the base bycorrecting the target upper body support portion motion and includes atleast a process of correcting the target upper body support portionmotion so that the lateral position deviation corresponding to thedeviation between the actual lateral position of the base or the upperbody support portion in the movement environment of the base and thepredetermined lateral reference position approaches zero in response toan observed value of the lateral position deviation. The A3 processcontrols the operation of the first actuator so that the base moves inresponse to the correction target upper body support portion motion. TheA4 process is a process of determining a target foot mount motion whichis a target motion of each of the two foot mounts with respect to thevirtual floor and determines the target foot mount motion so that thefoot mount on the support leg side stops with respect to the virtualfloor, the target lateral position of the foot mount on the free legside matches the actual lateral position of the foot on the free legside of the manipulator, and a target tilt posture of each of the twofoot mounts matches a tilt posture set in response to a floor shape ofthe movement environment of the slave device. The A5 process controlsthe operation of the second actuator so that a relationship between theactual lateral position of the upper body support portion and the actuallateral position of each of the two foot bases matches a relationshipdefined by the target upper body support portion motion and the targetfoot mount motion and an actual tilt posture of each of the two footmounts matches a target tilt posture defined by the target motion of thetarget foot mount.

Accordingly, it is possible to preferably operate the first actuator andthe second actuator so that the lateral position of the foot mount onthe free leg side follows the lateral position of the foot on the freeleg side of the manipulator and the upper body support portionrelatively moves in the lateral direction with respect to the foot mounton the support leg side together with the base in accordance with themovement of the upper body of the manipulator in the lateral directionwith respect to the foot mount on the support leg side while suppressingthe lateral position of the base or the upper body support portion inthe movement environment of the base from deviating from thepredetermined lateral reference position and changing the tilt postureof each foot mount in response to the floor shape of the movementenvironment of the slave device.

In an embodiment, each of the two foot mounts is further mounted on thebase to be movable up and down with respect to the base and the secondactuator can be configured to further generate a driving force formoving each foot mount up and down with respect to the base. In thiscase, the control device can be configured to further execute an Eprocess that controls the operation of the second actuator so that adifference between up-down direction positions of the two foot mountschanges in response to the actual floor surface shape of the movementenvironment of each slave device.

Accordingly, the manipulator can easily and sensibly recognize the floorshape of the movement environment of the slave device by a differencebetween the up-down direction positions of both foot mounts when theleft and right feet are respectively grounded to the corresponding footmounts. For example, the manipulator can recognize whether the floor ofthe movement environment of the slave device has a step. Further, thewalking operation can be performed in the master device in a manner thatmatches the floor shape of the movement environment of the slave device.

In an embodiment, when the slave device is a leg type moving body whichincludes an upper body and a pair of two left and right legs extendingfrom the upper body, the control device can be configured to control theoperation of the second actuator so that a difference between theup-down direction position of the foot mount corresponding to the leftfoot of the manipulator and the up-down direction position of the footmount corresponding to the right foot of the manipulator changes inresponse to a difference between an up-down direction position of thefloor surface below the front end portion of the left leg of the slavedevice and an up-down direction position of the floor surface below thefront end portion of the right leg of the slave device when executingthe E process.

Accordingly, the manipulator can easily and sensibly recognize a localfloor shape (tilted state) below the front end portion of the leg foreach leg and a difference between the up-down walking position of thefloor surface below the left leg of the slave device and the up-downwalking position of the floor surface below the left leg of themanipulator corresponding to the leg of the slave device by thedifference between the up-down direction position of the foot mount forgrounding the left foot of the manipulator and the up-down directionposition of the foot mount for grounding the right foot.

In an embodiment, the upper body support portion is further mounted onthe base to be movable up and down with respect to the two foot mountstogether with the base and the master device can further include afourth actuator capable of generating a driving force for moving theupper body support portion up and down. In this case, when executing theA process, the control device can be configured to further execute an Fprocess that controls the operations of the second actuator and thefourth actuator so that the upper body support portion relatively moveswith respect to the foot mount on the support leg side while suppressingan up-down direction position of the upper body support portion in themovement environment of the base from deviating from a predeterminedup-down direction reference position in accordance with the upward anddownward movement of the upper body of the manipulator with respect tothe foot mount on the support leg side.

Accordingly, the manipulator can continuously perform the walkingoperation in a manner of going up and down a step, a staircase, or aslope so that the up-down direction position of the upper body supportportion in the movement environment of the base does not greatly deviatefrom a predetermined up-down direction reference position. Further, theoperation of the slave device can be controlled so that the slave deviceperforms an operation of going up and down a step, a staircase, or aslope existing in the movement environment of the slave device.

In an embodiment, when executing the A process, the control device canbe configured to execute the A process by a process including an A1process, an A2 process, an A3 process and an A4 process and an A5process. The A1 process generates a target upper body support portionmotion which is a target motion of the upper body support portion withrespect to a virtual floor formed in a pseudo manner by the foot mounton the support leg side so that the upper body support portion moveswith respect to the virtual floor together with the upper body of themanipulator. The A2 process is a process of determining a correctiontarget upper body support portion motion which is a target motion of theupper body support portion in the movement environment of the base bycorrecting the target upper body support portion motion and includes atleast a process of correcting the target upper body support portionmotion so that the lateral position deviation corresponding to thedeviation between the actual lateral position of the base or the upperbody support portion in the movement environment of the base and thepredetermined lateral reference position and an up-down directionposition deviation corresponding to a deviation between an actualup-down direction position of the upper body support portion in themovement environment of the base and the predetermined up-down directionreference position respectively approach zero in response to observedvalues of the lateral position deviation and the up-down directionposition deviation. The A3 process controls the operations of the firstactuator and the fourth actuator so that the upper body support portionmoves in response to the correction target upper body support portionmotion. The A4 process is a process of determining a target foot mountmotion which is a target motion of each of the two foot mounts withrespect to the virtual floor and determines the target foot mount motionso that the foot mount on the support leg side stops with respect to thevirtual floor, the target lateral position of the foot mount on the freeleg side matches the actual lateral position of the foot on the free legside of the manipulator, and a difference between the target up-downdirection positions of the two foot mounts matches an up-down directionposition difference set in response to a floor shape of the movementenvironment of the slave device. The A5 process controls the operationof the second actuator so that each of a relationship between the actuallateral position of the upper body support portion and the actuallateral position of each of the two foot bases and a relationshipbetween an actual up-down direction position of the upper body supportportion and an actual up-down direction position of each of the two footbases matches a relationship defined by the target upper body supportportion motion and the target foot mount motion.

Accordingly, it is possible to preferably operate the first actuator,the second actuator, and the fourth actuator so that the lateralposition of the foot mount on the free leg side follows the lateralposition of the foot on the free leg side of the manipulator and theupper body support portion relatively moves in the lateral directionwith respect to the foot mount on the support leg side together with thebase in accordance with the movement of the upper body of themanipulator in the lateral direction with respect to the foot mount onthe support leg side while suppressing the lateral position of the baseor the upper body support portion in the movement environment of thebase and the up-down direction position of the upper body supportportion from respectively deviating from the predetermined lateralreference position and the up-down direction reference position andchanging a difference between the up-down direction positions of twofoot mounts in response to the floor shape of the movement environmentof the slave device.

Additionally, the A2 process, the A3 process, the A4 process, and the A5process of an embodiment are processes respectively included in the A2process, the A3 process, the A4 process, and the A5 process of anotherembodiment.

In an embodiment, when the slave device is a leg type moving body whichincludes an upper body and two legs extending from the upper body, thecontrol device includes: an operation target determination unit whichdetermines a slave side operation target including a target slave legmotion corresponding to a target motion of each leg of the slave deviceand a target slave upper body motion corresponding to a target motion ofthe upper body of the slave device and a target upper body supportportion motion corresponding to a target motion of the upper bodysupport portion with respect to the virtual floor formed in a pseudomanner by the foot mount on the support leg side of the master devicewhen the manipulator wearing the upper body support portion performs thewalking operation.

And the control device includes: a master side control unit whichdetermines a correction target upper body support portion motioncorresponding to a target motion of the upper body support portion inthe movement environment of the base by correcting the target upper bodysupport portion motion by a process including at least an operation ofcorrecting the target upper body support portion motion so that thelateral position deviation corresponding to the deviation between theactual lateral position of the base or the upper body support portion inthe movement environment of the base and the predetermined lateralreference position approaches zero in response to an observed value ofthe lateral position deviation, controls the operation of the firstactuator so that the base moves in response to the correction targetupper body support portion motion, determines a target foot mount motioncorresponding to a target motion of each of the foot mounts in responseto an observed value of a motion state of at least each foot of themanipulator, and controls the operation of the second actuator inresponse to the target foot mount motion, and a slave side control unitwhich controls the operation of the slave device in response to thedetermined slave side operation target. When a lateral position of anyone of the upper body support portion, the upper body of themanipulator, and the center of gravity of the manipulator is defined asa master side reference portion lateral position and a lateral positionof any one of the upper body and the center of gravity of the slavedevice is defined as a slave side reference portion lateral position,the operation target determination unit can be configured to have afunction of executing a first process and a second process. The firstprocess determines the target slave leg motion by using at least anobserved value of a motion state of each foot of the manipulator withrespect to the virtual floor formed in a pseudo manner by the foot mounton the support leg side. The second process determines the target slaveupper body motion and the target upper body support portion motion byusing an observed value of each of the master side reference portionlateral position and the slave side reference portion lateral positionwith respect to the virtual floor so that a relationship between theactual slave side reference portion lateral position and the master sidereference portion lateral position with respect to the virtual floorclose to satisfy a predetermined target corresponding relationship and atarget value of the slave side reference portion lateral positiondefined by the slave side operation target matches or approaches theactual slave side reference portion lateral position.

Additionally, in the present specification, an “observed value” of anarbitrary state quantity such as a motion or a force of an arbitraryobject means a detection value of a state quantity that is detected byan appropriate detector or sensor, an estimation value that is estimatedbased on a correlated relationship from detection values of one or moreother state quantities having a certain correlated relationship with thestate quantity, or a pseudo-estimation value that can be considered tomatch or almost match an actual value of the state quantity.

Further, in an embodiment, a process of determining the target upperbody support portion motion in the process of the operation targetdetermination unit corresponds to the Al process, a process ofdetermining the correction target upper body support portion motion inthe process of the master side control unit corresponds to the A2process, and a process of determining the target foot mount motioncorresponds to the A4 process.

According to an embodiment, when the manipulator wearing the upper bodysupport portion performs the walking operation, the target slave legmotion in the slave side operation target is determined so that theslave device moves by the motion of the leg in accordance with thewalking operation.

Further, in the slave side operation target, the target slave upper bodymotion and the target upper body support portion motion with respect tothe virtual floor are determined so that a relationship between theactual slave side reference portion lateral position and the master sidereference portion lateral position with respect to the virtual flooralmost satisfies a predetermined target corresponding relationship andthe target value of the slave side reference portion lateral positiondefined by the slave side operation target matches or approaches theactual slave side reference portion lateral position.

Additionally, as the target corresponding relationship, for example, arelationship in which the master side reference portion lateral positionand the slave side reference portion lateral position match each other,a relationship in which one of these is proportional to the other ofthese, or a relationship in which one of these is represented by alinear function of the other of these can be employed.

Then, the operation of the slave device is controlled in response to theslave side operation target including the target slave leg motion andthe target slave upper body motion described as described above.

Further, the operation of the first actuator is controlled in responseto the correction target upper body support portion motion obtained bycorrecting the target upper body support portion motion determined asdescribed above so that at least the lateral position deviationapproaches zero and the operation of the second actuator is controlledin response to the target foot mount motion determined in response to atleast the observed value of the motion state of each foot of themanipulator.

In this case, the slave device basically moves by the walking operationin a manner of following the walking operation of the manipulator.However, even when the manipulator performs the walking operation in anormal posture without collapsing the posture, the posture of the slavedevice may be changed in some cases due to the influence of disturbancesuch as the unevenness of the floor surface in the movement environmentof the slave device or the contact between the slave device and theobstacle. Further, in some cases, the actual slave side referenceportion lateral position may deviate from the master side referenceportion lateral position with respect to the virtual floor so that thetarget corresponding relationship cannot be satisfied.

At this time, the target slave upper body motion is determined so thatthe target value of the slave side reference portion lateral positionmatches or approaches the actual slave side reference portion lateralposition regardless of the lateral position of the upper body of themanipulator or the upper body support portion with respect to thevirtual floor. On the other hand, the target upper body support portionmotion is determined so that a relationship between the actual slaveside reference portion lateral position and the master side referenceportion lateral position with respect to the virtual floor approachesthe target corresponding relationship.

For this reason, when the posture of the slave device is collapsed, theoperation of the master device can be controlled so that a lateraltranslational force that attempts to displace the master side referenceportion lateral position with respect to the virtual floor toward aposition that satisfies a target relationship with respect to the actualslave side reference portion lateral position of the slave device havinga collapsed posture is applied from the upper body support portion tothe manipulator.

For this reason, when the posture of the slave device is collapsedduring the movement of the slave device in accordance with the walkingoperation of the manipulator, the manipulator receives a lateraltranslational force that attempts its posture from the upper bodysupport portion to the upper body. Accordingly, the manipulator canappropriately and promptly recognize the collapsed posture of the slavedevice or the posture collapsing direction of the slave device. Thus,according to an embodiment, when the posture of the slave device (themoving body) is collapsed, the manipulator can promptly andappropriately recognize that collapsing state.

Supplementally, as a process of the first processing unit fordetermining the target slave leg motion, it is possible to employ, forexample, a process of determining the target position of the front endportion of each leg of the slave device in response to the observedvalue of the position of the foot of the leg of the manipulator withrespect to the virtual floor so that a relationship between the positionof the foot of each leg of the manipulator with respect to the virtualfloor and the position of the front end portion of each leg of the slavedevice (the leg corresponding to the leg of the manipulator) satisfies atarget corresponding relationship such as a target correspondingrelationship between the master side reference portion lateral positionand the slave side reference portion lateral position.

Regarding the posture of the front end portion of each leg of the slavedevice in the target slave leg motion, it is possible to employ, forexample, a process of determining the target posture of the front endportion of each leg of the slave device in response to the observedvalue of the posture of the foot of the leg of the manipulator withrespect to the virtual floor so that a relationship between the postureof the foot of each leg of the manipulator with respect to the virtualfloor and the posture of the front end portion of each leg of the slavedevice (the leg corresponding to the leg of the manipulator) satisfies apredetermined target corresponding relationship.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made to the disclosed embodimentswithout departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view ofthe foregoing, it is intended that the disclosure covers modificationsand variations provided that they fall within the scope of the followingclaims and their equivalents

What is claimed is:
 1. A moving body manipulation system capable ofmanipulating a slave device which is a moving body to move, the movingbody manipulation system comprising: a master device which comprises abase movable on a floor surface, a first actuator capable of generatinga driving force for moving the base on the floor surface, an upper bodysupport portion mounted on the base to be movable together with the baseand attachable to an upper body of a manipulator, two foot mountsmounted on the base to be movable in a lateral direction with respect tothe base and capable of grounding two feet of the manipulator wearingthe upper body support portion, and a second actuator capable ofgenerating a driving force for moving each of the two foot mounts withrespect to the base in the lateral direction; and a control device whichhas a function of controlling operations of the slave device and themaster device, wherein the control device is configured to comprise afunction of executing an A process and a B process, the A processcontrols operations of the first actuator and the second actuator sothat when the manipulator wearing the upper body support portion moveseach foot to perform a walking operation of intermittently groundingeach foot to a corresponding foot mount, a lateral position of the footmount on a free leg side which is the foot mount corresponding to thefoot on a free leg side of the manipulator follows a lateral position ofthe foot on the free leg side of the manipulator, and the upper bodysupport portion relatively moves in the lateral direction with respectto the foot mount on a support leg side together with the base whilesuppressing a lateral position of the base or the upper body supportportion in a movement environment of the base from deviating from apredetermined lateral reference position in accordance with a movementof the upper body of the manipulator in the lateral direction withrespect to the foot mount on the support leg side which is the footmount for grounding the foot on a support leg side of the manipulator,the B process controls an operation of the slave device so that theslave device moves in response to a movement of the upper body supportportion with respect to the foot mount on the support leg side.
 2. Themoving body manipulation system according to claim 1, wherein the upperbody support portion and the two foot mounts are mounted on the base tobe tiltable together with the base and the master device furthercomprises a third actuator capable of generating a driving force fortilting the base, and wherein the control device is configured tofurther execute a C process, the C process determines an additionaltranslation acceleration which is a lateral translation acceleration tobe added to the upper body support portion so that a lateral positiondeviation corresponding to a deviation between the lateral position ofthe base or the upper body support portion in the movement environmentof the base and a predetermined lateral reference position approacheszero in response to the lateral position deviation when executing the Aprocess, and the C process controls an operation of the third actuatorso that a combined acceleration with an acceleration component generatedin a base tilted direction in the additional translation accelerationand a gravity acceleration acting on the manipulator becomes zero orapproaches zero.
 3. The moving body manipulation system according toclaim 1, wherein when executing the A process, the control device isconfigured to execute the A process by a process comprising an A1process, an A2 process, an A3 process and an A4 process and an A5process, the A1 process generates a target upper body support portionmotion which is a target motion of the upper body support portion withrespect to a virtual floor formed in a pseudo manner by the foot mounton the support leg side so that the upper body support portion moveswith respect to the virtual floor together with the upper body of themanipulator, the A2 process is a process of determining a correctiontarget upper body support portion motion which is a target motion of theupper body support portion in the movement environment of the base bycorrecting the target upper body support portion motion and comprises atleast a process of correcting the target upper body support portionmotion so that the lateral position deviation corresponding to thedeviation between an actual lateral position of the base or the upperbody support portion in the movement environment of the base and thepredetermined lateral reference position approaches zero in response toan observed value of the lateral position deviation, the A3 processcontrols the operation of the first actuator so that the base moves inresponse to the correction target upper body support portion motion, theA4 process is a process of determining a target foot mount motion whichis a target motion of each of the two foot mounts with respect to thevirtual floor and determines the target foot mount motion so that thefoot mount on the support leg side stops with respect to the virtualfloor and a target lateral position of the foot mount on the free legside matches an actual lateral position of the foot on the free leg sideof the manipulator, and the A5 process controls the operation of thesecond actuator so that a relationship between an actual lateralposition of the upper body support portion and an actual lateralposition of each of the two foot bases matches a relationship defined bythe target upper body support portion motion and the target foot mountmotion.
 4. The moving body manipulation system according to claim 2,wherein when executing the A process, the control device is configuredto execute the A process by a process comprising an A1 process, an A2process, an A3 process and an A4 process and an A5 process, the A1process generates a target upper body support portion motion which is atarget motion of the upper body support portion with respect to avirtual floor formed in a pseudo manner by the foot mount on the supportleg side so that the upper body support portion moves with respect tothe virtual floor together with the upper body of the manipulator, theA2 process is a process of determining a correction target upper bodysupport portion motion which is a target motion of the upper bodysupport portion in the movement environment of the base by correctingthe target upper body support portion motion and comprises at least aprocess of correcting the target upper body support portion motion sothat the lateral position deviation corresponding to the deviationbetween an actual lateral position of the base or the upper body supportportion in the movement environment of the base and the predeterminedlateral reference position approaches zero in response to an observedvalue of the lateral position deviation, the A3 process controls theoperation of the first actuator so that the base moves in response tothe correction target upper body support portion motion, the A4 processis a process of determining a target foot mount motion which is a targetmotion of each of the two foot mounts with respect to the virtual floorand determines the target foot mount motion so that the foot mount onthe support leg side stops with respect to the virtual floor and atarget lateral position of the foot mount on the free leg side matchesan actual lateral position of the foot on the free leg side of themanipulator, and the A5 process controls the operation of the secondactuator so that a relationship between an actual lateral position ofthe upper body support portion and an actual lateral position of each ofthe two foot bases matches a relationship defined by the target upperbody support portion motion and the target foot mount motion.
 5. Themoving body manipulation system according to claim 1, wherein the firstactuator is an actuator configured to generate a driving force forallowing the base to move in a translation manner and rotate in a yawdirection, and wherein when executing the A process, the control deviceis configured to further execute a process of controlling the operationsof the first actuator and the second actuator so that the upper bodysupport portion relatively rotates in the yaw direction with respect tothe foot mount on the support leg side together with the base whilesuppressing a direction in the yaw direction of the base or the upperbody support portion in the movement environment of the base fromdeviating from a predetermined reference direction in accordance withthe rotation in the yaw direction of the upper body of the manipulatorwith respect to the foot mount on the support leg side.
 6. The movingbody manipulation system according to claim 2, wherein the firstactuator is an actuator configured to generate a driving force forallowing the base to move in a translation manner and rotate in a yawdirection, and wherein when executing the A process, the control deviceis configured to further execute a process of controlling the operationsof the first actuator and the second actuator so that the upper bodysupport portion relatively rotates in the yaw direction with respect tothe foot mount on the support leg side together with the base whilesuppressing a direction in the yaw direction of the base or the upperbody support portion in the movement environment of the base fromdeviating from a predetermined reference direction in accordance withthe rotation in the yaw direction of the upper body of the manipulatorwith respect to the foot mount on the support leg side.
 7. The movingbody manipulation system according to claim 3, wherein the firstactuator is an actuator configured to generate a driving force forallowing the base to move in a translation manner and rotate in a yawdirection, and wherein when executing the A process, the control deviceis configured to further execute a process of controlling the operationsof the first actuator and the second actuator so that the upper bodysupport portion relatively rotates in the yaw direction with respect tothe foot mount on the support leg side together with the base whilesuppressing a direction in the yaw direction of the base or the upperbody support portion in the movement environment of the base fromdeviating from a predetermined reference direction in accordance withthe rotation in the yaw direction of the upper body of the manipulatorwith respect to the foot mount on the support leg side.
 8. The movingbody manipulation system according to claim 5, wherein when executingthe A process, the control device is configured to execute the A processby a process comprising an A1 process, an A2 process, an A3 process andan A4 process and an A5 process, the A1 process generates a target upperbody support portion motion which is a target motion of the upper bodysupport portion with respect to a virtual floor formed in a pseudomanner by the foot mount on the support leg side so that the upper bodysupport portion moves with respect to the virtual floor together withthe upper body of the manipulator, the A2 process is a process ofdetermining a correction target upper body support portion motion whichis a target motion of the upper body support portion in the movementenvironment of the base by correcting the target upper body supportportion motion and comprises at least a process of correcting the targetupper body support portion motion so that the lateral position deviationcorresponding to the deviation between an actual lateral position of thebase or the upper body support portion in the movement environment ofthe base and the predetermined lateral reference position and ayaw-direction direction deviation corresponding to the deviation betweenan actual direction in the yaw direction of the base or the upper bodysupport portion in the movement environment of the base and thepredetermined reference direction approach zero in response to observedvalues of the lateral position deviation and the yaw-direction directiondeviation, the A3 process controls the operation of the first actuatorso that the base moves in response to the correction target upper bodysupport portion motion, the A4 process is a process of determining atarget foot mount motion which is a target motion of each of the twofoot mounts with respect to the virtual floor and determines the targetfoot mount motion so that the foot mount on the support leg side stopswith respect to the virtual floor and a target lateral position of thefoot mount on the free leg side matches an actual lateral position ofthe foot on the free leg side of the manipulator, and the A5 processcontrols the operation of the second actuator so that a relationshipbetween an actual lateral position of the upper body support portion andan actual lateral position of each of the two foot bases matches arelationship defined by the target upper body support portion motion andthe target foot mount motion.
 9. The moving body manipulation systemaccording to claim 1, wherein each of the two foot mounts is furthermounted on the base to be rotatable in the yaw direction with respect tothe base, the second actuator is configured to further generate adriving force for rotating each of the foot mounts in the yaw directionwith respect to the base, and the control device is configured tofurther execute a process of controlling the operation of the secondactuator so that a direction in the yaw direction of the foot mount onthe free leg side with respect to the foot mount on the support leg sidefollows a direction in the yaw direction of the foot on the free legside of the manipulator with respect to the foot mount on the supportleg side when executing the A process.
 10. The moving body manipulationsystem according to claim 2, wherein each of the two foot mounts isfurther mounted on the base to be rotatable in the yaw direction withrespect to the base, the second actuator is configured to furthergenerate a driving force for rotating each of the foot mounts in the yawdirection with respect to the base, and the control device is configuredto further execute a process of controlling the operation of the secondactuator so that a direction in the yaw direction of the foot mount onthe free leg side with respect to the foot mount on the support leg sidefollows a direction in the yaw direction of the foot on the free legside of the manipulator with respect to the foot mount on the supportleg side when executing the A process.
 11. The moving body manipulationsystem according to claim 3, wherein each of the two foot mounts isfurther mounted on the base to be rotatable in the yaw direction withrespect to the base, the second actuator is configured to furthergenerate a driving force for rotating each of the foot mounts in the yawdirection with respect to the base, and the control device is configuredto further execute a process of controlling the operation of the secondactuator so that a direction in the yaw direction of the foot mount onthe free leg side with respect to the foot mount on the support leg sidefollows a direction in the yaw direction of the foot on the free legside of the manipulator with respect to the foot mount on the supportleg side when executing the A process.
 12. The moving body manipulationsystem according to claim 9, wherein when executing the A process, thecontrol device is configured to execute the A process by a processcomprising an A1 process, an A2 process, an A3 process and an A4 processand an A5 process, the A1 process generates a target upper body supportportion motion which is a target motion of the upper body supportportion with respect to a virtual floor formed in a pseudo manner by thefoot mount on the support leg side so that the upper body supportportion moves with respect to the virtual floor together with the upperbody of the manipulator, the A2 process is a process of determining acorrection target upper body support portion motion which is a targetmotion of the upper body support portion in the movement environment ofthe base by correcting the target upper body support portion motion andcomprises at least a process of correcting the target upper body supportportion motion so that the lateral position deviation corresponding tothe deviation between an actual lateral position of the base or theupper body support portion in the movement environment of the base andthe predetermined lateral reference position approaches zero in responseto an observed value of the lateral position deviation, the A3 processcontrols the operation of the first actuator so that the base moves inresponse to the correction target upper body support portion motion, theA4 process is a process of determining a target foot mount motion whichis a target motion of each of the two foot mounts with respect to thevirtual floor and determines the target foot mount motion so that thefoot mount on the support leg side stops with respect to the virtualfloor and a target lateral position and a target yaw-direction directionof the foot mount on the free leg side respectively match an actuallateral position and an actual yaw-direction direction of the foot onthe free leg side of the manipulator, and the A5 process controls theoperation of the second actuator so that each of a relationship betweenan actual lateral position of the upper body support portion and anactual lateral position of each of the two foot bases and a relationshipbetween the actual yaw-direction direction of the upper body supportportion and the actual yaw-direction direction of each of the two footbases matches a relationship defined by the target upper body supportportion motion and the target foot mount motion.
 13. The moving bodymanipulation system according to claim 1, wherein each of the two footmounts is further mounted on the base to be tiltable with respect to thebase and the second actuator is configured to further generate a drivingforce for tilting each of the two foot mounts with respect to the base,and wherein the control device is configured to further execute a Dprocess that controls the operation of the second actuator so that atilt posture of each of the foot mounts changes in response to an actualfloor surface shape of a movement environment of the slave device. 14.The moving body manipulation system according to claim 13, wherein theslave device is a leg type moving body which comprises an upper body anda pair of two left and right legs extending from the upper body, andwherein the control device is configured to control the operation of thesecond actuator so that the tilt posture of the foot mount correspondingto a left foot of the manipulator changes in response to a floor surfaceshape below a front end portion of a left leg of the slave device andthe tilt posture of the foot mount corresponding to a right foot of themanipulator changes in response to a floor surface shape below a frontend portion of a right leg of the slave device when executing the Dprocess.
 15. The moving body manipulation system according to claim 13,wherein when executing the A process, the control device is configuredto execute the A process by a process comprising an A1 process, an A2process, an A3 process and an A4 process and an A5 process, the A1process generates a target upper body support portion motion which is atarget motion of the upper body support portion with respect to avirtual floor formed in a pseudo manner by the foot mount on the supportleg side so that the upper body support portion moves with respect tothe virtual floor together with the upper body of the manipulator, theA2 process is a process of determining a correction target upper bodysupport portion motion which is a target motion of the upper bodysupport portion in the movement environment of the base by correctingthe target upper body support portion motion and comprises at least aprocess of correcting the target upper body support portion motion sothat the lateral position deviation corresponding to the deviationbetween an actual lateral position of the base or the upper body supportportion in the movement environment of the base and the predeterminedlateral reference position approaches zero in response to an observedvalue of the lateral position deviation, the A3 process controls theoperation of the first actuator so that the base moves in response tothe correction target upper body support portion motion, the A4 processis a process of determining a target foot mount motion which is a targetmotion of each of the two foot mounts with respect to the virtual floorand determines the target foot mount motion so that the foot mount onthe support leg side stops with respect to the virtual floor, the targetlateral position of the foot mount on the free leg side matches anactual lateral position of the foot on the free leg side of themanipulator, and a target tilt posture of each of the two foot mountsmatches a tilt posture set in response to a floor shape of the movementenvironment of the slave device, and the A5 process controls theoperation of the second actuator so that a relationship between anactual lateral position of the upper body support portion and an actuallateral position of each of the two foot bases matches a relationshipdefined by the target upper body support portion motion and the targetfoot mount motion and an actual tilt posture of each of the two footmounts matches a target tilt posture defined by the target motion of thetarget foot mount.
 16. The moving body manipulation system according toclaim 1, wherein each of the two foot mounts is further mounted on thebase to be movable up and down with respect to the base and the secondactuator is configured to further generate a driving force for movingeach foot mount up and down with respect to the base, and wherein thecontrol device is configured to further execute an E process thatcontrols the operation of the second actuator so that a differencebetween up-down direction positions of the two foot mounts changes inresponse to the actual floor surface shape of the movement environmentof each slave device.
 17. The moving body manipulation system accordingto claim 16, wherein the slave device is a leg type moving body whichcomprises an upper body and a pair of two left and right legs extendingfrom the upper body, and wherein when executing the E process, thecontrol device is configured to control the operation of the secondactuator so that a difference between the up-down direction position ofthe foot mount corresponding to a left foot of the manipulator and theup-down direction position of the foot mount corresponding to a rightfoot of the manipulator changes in response to a difference between anup-down direction position of the floor surface below the front endportion of the left leg of the slave device and an up-down directionposition of the floor surface below the front end portion of the rightleg of the slave device.
 18. The moving body manipulation systemaccording to claim 16, wherein the upper body support portion is furthermounted on the base to be movable up and down with respect to the twofoot mounts together with the base and the master device furthercomprises a fourth actuator capable of generating a driving force formoving the upper body support portion up and down, and wherein whenexecuting the A process, the control device is configured to furtherexecute an F process that controls the operations of the second actuatorand the fourth actuator so that the upper body support portionrelatively moves up and down with respect to the foot mount on thesupport leg side while suppressing an up-down direction position of theupper body support portion in the movement environment of the base fromdeviating from a predetermined up-down direction reference position inaccordance with the upward and downward movement of the upper body ofthe manipulator with respect to the foot mount on the support leg side.19. The moving body manipulation system according to claim 18, whereinwhen executing the A process, the control device is configured toexecute the A process by a process comprising an A1 process, an A2process, an A3 process and an A4 process and an A5 process, the A1process generates a target upper body support portion motion which is atarget motion of the upper body support portion with respect to avirtual floor formed in a pseudo manner by the foot mount on the supportleg side so that the upper body support portion moves with respect tothe virtual floor together with the upper body of the manipulator, theA2 process is a process of determining a correction target upper bodysupport portion motion which is a target motion of the upper bodysupport portion in the movement environment of the base by correctingthe target upper body support portion motion and comprises at least aprocess of correcting the target upper body support portion motion sothat the lateral position deviation corresponding to the deviationbetween an actual lateral position of the base or the upper body supportportion in the movement environment of the base and the predeterminedlateral reference position and an up-down direction position deviationcorresponding to a deviation between an actual up-down directionposition of the upper body support portion in the movement environmentof the base and a predetermined up-down direction reference positionrespectively approach zero in response to observed values of the lateralposition deviation and the up-down direction position deviation, the A3process controls the operations of the first actuator and the fourthactuator so that the upper body support portion moves in response to thecorrection target upper body support portion motion, the A4 process is aprocess of determining a target foot mount motion which is a targetmotion of each of the two foot mounts with respect to the virtual floorand determines the target foot mount motion so that the foot mount onthe support leg side stops with respect to the virtual floor, the targetlateral position of the foot mount on the free leg side matches anactual lateral position of the foot on the free leg side of themanipulator, and a difference between the target up-down directionpositions of the two foot mounts matches an up-down direction positiondifference set in response to a floor shape of the movement environmentof the slave device, and the A5 process controls the operation of thesecond actuator so that each of a relationship between an actual lateralposition of the upper body support portion and an actual lateralposition of each of the two foot bases and a relationship between anactual up-down direction position of the upper body support portion andan actual up-down direction position of each of the two foot basesmatches a relationship defined by the target upper body support portionmotion and the target foot mount motion.
 20. The moving bodymanipulation system according to claim 1, wherein the slave device is aleg type moving body which comprises an upper body and two legsextending from the upper body, and wherein the control device comprises:an operation target determination unit which determines a slave sideoperation target comprising a target slave leg motion corresponding to atarget motion of each leg of the slave device and a target slave upperbody motion corresponding to a target motion of the upper body of theslave device and a target upper body support portion motioncorresponding to a target motion of the upper body support portion withrespect to the virtual floor formed in a pseudo manner by the foot mounton the support leg side of the master device when the manipulatorwearing the upper body support portion performs the walking operation, amaster side control unit which determines a correction target upper bodysupport portion motion corresponding to a target motion of the upperbody support portion in the movement environment of the base bycorrecting the target upper body support portion motion by a processcomprising at least an operation of correcting the target upper bodysupport portion motion so that the lateral position deviationcorresponding to the deviation between an actual lateral position of thebase or the upper body support portion in the movement environment ofthe base and the predetermined lateral reference position approacheszero in response to an observed value of the lateral position deviation,controls the operation of the first actuator so that the base moves inresponse to the correction target upper body support portion motion,determines a target foot mount motion corresponding to a target motionof each of the foot mounts in response to an observed value of a motionstate of at least each foot of the manipulator, and controls theoperation of the second actuator in response to the target foot mountmotion, and a slave side control unit which controls the operation ofthe slave device in response to the determined slave side operationtarget, wherein when a lateral position of any one of the upper bodysupport portion, the upper body of the manipulator, and a center ofgravity of the manipulator is defined as a master side reference portionlateral position and a lateral position of any one of the upper body anda center of gravity of the slave device is defined as a slave sidereference portion lateral position, the operation target determinationunit is configured to comprise a function of executing a first processand a second process, the first process determines the target slave legmotion by using at least an observed value of a motion state of eachfoot of the manipulator with respect to the virtual floor formed in apseudo manner by the foot mount on the support leg side. and the secondprocess determines the target slave upper body motion and the targetupper body support portion motion by using an observed value of each ofthe master side reference portion lateral position and the slave sidereference portion lateral position with respect to the virtual floor sothat a relationship between the actual slave side reference portionlateral position and the master side reference portion lateral positionwith respect to the virtual floor close to satisfy a predeterminedtarget corresponding relationship and a target value of the slave sidereference portion lateral position defined by the slave side operationtarget matches or approaches the actual slave side reference portionlateral position.